The Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry returns to Ottawa in March 1919 after over four year's service at the front in France. The Chateau Laurier Hotel is in the background. The regiment, named for the youngest daughter of Canada's governor general was formed in the national capital a few days after the outbreak of war on August 4,1914 and was largely composed, in the beginning, of recent British immigrants. The "Princess Pats," as they were soon nicknamed, had been the first Canadian unit in action in World War One. Sixty-two out of the 229 officers and 1210 out of the 4857 other ranks who had served with the regiment in France were killed in action, missing, presumed dead, or died of wounds. Three of the "Princess Pats" won the Victoria Cross, the Empire's highest award for bravery. In all, 62,000 Canadians had died in the "Great War" out of a total of 600,000 enlisted, a terrible sacrifice for a small country of just over eight million population.
