Galt, Ontario sent almost a full company of the 29th Highland Light Infantry to Valcartier. On 21 August, 115 men in total left from Galt. The company was composed of 30 men from Preston, two or three from Hespeler, and over eighty from Galt. The large number of men who enlisted from this area stirred the patriotism of the Waterloo Region.
When the men left, approximately 12,000 people from all over Waterloo Region, but especially from Hespeler, Galt and Preston, gathered to give the boys a proper send off. .Such large gatherings were characteristic for the departure of volunteers across Ontario. Each of the Waterloo Region men were given pocket knives as souvenirs. As the men marched through Galt, the Preston Silver Band and the regimental brass and pipe band, and other bands played.
(“Going to the Front,” Hespeler Herald, 20 August 1914; “Full Company Goes From Galt,” Waterloo Chronicle Telegraph, 27 August 1914; “115 Start From Galt,” Waterloo Chronicle Telegraph, 27 August 1914; “Volunteers Leave Galt,” Hespeler Herald, 27 August 1914.)
