Colonel Roger Kenwood St. John, OMM, CD Armoury is named in honour of Colonel Roger Kenwood St. John, OMM, CD. The former 1 Combat Engineer Regiment building was named on April 26, 2014 by the Department of National Defence.
Colonel Roger St. John was born in Vancouver in 1944. As a member of the Royal Westminster Regiment, he enrolled in the Regular Officer Training Program while at UBC. Upon graduation, he trained at the Canadian Forces Fire Academy and was appointed as the Fire/Crash Rescue Chief at CFB Montreal. In 1972 he was assigned to 1 Airborne Field Squadron, deploying to Cyprus during the 1974 Turkish invasion. In 1975 he was promoted to Major and appointed Commanding Officer of 22 Field Squadron. This was followed in 1977 by his assignment to CENTAG HQ in Heidelberg. Colonel St. John attended Staff College in 1980, followed by his assignment to 1 CMBG as G4. Promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in 1982, he returned to the Staff College as a member of the Directing Staff. In 1985 he was appointed as the Base Administration Officer (B Adm O) of CFB Calgary. He was promoted to Colonel and posted to NDHQ Ottawa and in 1989 was assigned to Pakistan as the COS of UNOCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) mine awareness and clearance training mission for Afghan refugees. In 1991, Colonel St. John was posted to Force Mobile Command as Chief Engineer and attended the National Defence College in 1993. He was subsequently appointed Base Commander of CFB Chilliwack, the last Engineer to hold this position before the base closed in 1998. During this period, he also deployed to Sarajevo as Deputy Engineer/Corps Engineer Brigade Commander of IFOR (Implementation Force). He retired in 1998, appointed CME Colonel Commandant in 2008, but sadly passed away in September 2009.
