; 2 of 06/08/9811:48:47 ntelligencer file photo by Jack Evans Col. Angus Duffy has been connected to the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment since 1929. ' (p Q Prince Edward Regiment. His interest in signalling in the Scouts as a teenaged boy attracted the interest of Trenton militia leaders of the day, who made him a recruit in 1929 even before he quite reached his 16th birthday. His rise in the militia was mete- oric. In 1937 he rep- resented the regi- ment at the corona- tion of King George VI and Queen Eliza- beth, at which time, he recalled in an interview in recent years, "I got my first medal." Once the Second World War broke out, Duffy, already a company S e r g e a n t - M a j o r , became a chesty and strong-voiced r e g i m e n t a l S e r g e a n t - M a j o r , who came to be an ~ icon for the hun- dreds of men who served in the Hasty Ps during gru- elling campaigns in Italy and Northwest Europe. After the war, he operated a popular service station on Front Street near Dundas for many years. In the 1950s he served on city council for eight years. But he always remained active in the militia, signing up promptly in 1945. He was commanding officer for four years, from 1957-61 and honorary colonel for a further six years and continued to work for and promote his beloved regiment right up until his death. In his book, Smith writes of his wartime first meeting with Duffy: "I became instantly aware that I was meeting a man who was loved and respected to the highest degree by the whole of the regi- ment. At that time, he was not quite 29 years old and he stood just under five feet, five inches high....he was a father figure to the whole regiment." Duffy also served a term short- ly after the war as president of the Belleville Legion Branch 99. He was the logical choice to head up the Quinte area's former Emergency Measures Organiza- tion when it became active in the 1960s and held that job for several years. In Col. Duffy's own words, upon retiring as commanding offi- cer of the militia regiment/he said: "In the regiment I have learned that duty, discipline, courage, generosity, service and good friends are the important things of life." Col. Duffy also received a spe- cial award from the City of Belleville for his efforts at orga- nizing a highly successful and col- orful 50th anniversary re-enact- ment, three years ago, of the regi- ment's triumphant return from the Second World War.