Spry, Daniel C., 1913-1989 : Daniel Spry, army officer, was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1913 and educated in Calgary, Halifax and England. He joined the Princess Louise Fusiliers in 1932 and the following year was taken into the Royal Canadian Regiment. In December 1939 he sailed for England with the Royal Canadian Regiment. In September 1941 he was appointed to the Headquarters Staff of the 1st Canadian Division. Early in 1942 he joined the planning staff for the invasion of Europe. In August 1943 Spry took over command of the Royal Canadian Regiment in Sicily as its lieutenant-colonel. He was promoted to the rank of Brigadier at the end of 1943, and in July 1944 was appointed to command and reorganize the 12th Canadian Infantry Brigade. One month later he was promoted to Major-General, in command of the Third Canadian Infantry Division, which he led throughout the North-West Europe campaign up to the crossing of the Rhine. Aged 31, he was the youngest Major-General in the Allied Armies in World War II.
On March 22, 1945 Spry was appointed to command the Canadian Repatriation Units in Great Britain. He returned to Canada in January 1946 to assume the appointment of Vice-Chief of the General Staff and served as Canadian Military Member of the U.S. - Canada Permanent Joint Board on Defence. Later in 1946 Spry was retired to the Special List Supplementary Reserve at his own request. In May 1965 Spry assumed the honourary role as Colonel of the Royal Canadian Regiment. He relinquished his appointment in 1978 but maintained an interest in military affairs.
In addition to his military career, Spry served many years in the scouting movement. After retiring from the Army he accepted the appointment of Chief Executive Commissioner of the Boy Scouts of Canada in 1946. In 1949 he became a member of the International Committee of the Boy Scouts and two years later the Deputy Director of this movement with the Western hemisphere as his province. In 1953 he became International Director of the World Headquarters of the Boy Scout Movement in London, England. During the next twelve years he visited forty-five countries to inspect and advise on aspects of the Boy Scout movement. In 1965 Spry returned to Ottawa and was for eight years a director of the Canadian International Development Agency. Dan Spry died 2 April 1989 in Ottawa, Ontario.
