Canadian Officer Flanders 1917

54mm Rose miniature
Painted with Acrylics and enamels 1972.

I always have loved Rose miniatures, as they are accurate enough, and cleanly cast and posed models.  Sometimes they are stiff, but I prefer that often to overly animated figures.   I always liked the simple "arms akimbo" pose of this figure, the cocked helmet gives the figure a bit of a jaunty look for such a sober topic.  I always found it odd that folks will waddle waist deep in mud and slog into machine gun bullets, wearing buttoned up collars and ties.   Then again, that is kind of metaphorical for WWI isn't it?

I painted this model as a tribute to my grandfather Samuel Unitt who joined the Canadian 100th Winnipeg Grenadiers in 1915. Of course when I was younger I assumed he was an officer, I was wrong, but it is still a nice miniature that represents the period.

This regiment was renamed the 78th Canadian overseas battalion, and fought in the major offensives of the Somme, Passchendaele, Vimy Ridge, and the 100 days offensive.   I don't know many details about my grandfather's service, all I know is that he was in the signal corps and ran the wireless.   For more of his artifacts and photos at:

World War One.