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bombardier ((1))
DCHP-2 (Nov 2015)
n. — Military
a non-commissioned officer in British and Canadian artillery regiments, having a rank equivalent to a corporal.
Type: 2. Preservation — The use of bombardier to refer to a rank in the army is a preservation of the British term borrowed from French in the 1600s. Bombardier and Master Bombardier are specialist ranks for non-commissioned officers in the artillery, equivalent to the ranks of corporal and master corporal in other units of the Canadian military.
See also COD-2, s.v. "bombardier", which is marked "Cdn", ITP Nelson, s.v. "bombardier", which is marked "Chiefly British", and Gage-5, s.v. "bombardier".
See also COD-2, s.v. "bombardier", which is marked "Cdn", ITP Nelson, s.v. "bombardier", which is marked "Chiefly British", and Gage-5, s.v. "bombardier".
Quotations
1758
[...] a first and a second lieutenant of artillery, two bombardiers, four gunners and 20 artillery-men.
1825
[...] I have to remark that the names of Bombardier Keating of the Royal Artillery [...] are by mistake wholly omitted [...]
1832
Close to these [...] stood the number of gunners necessary to the duty of the field-pieces, each of which was commanded by a bombardier.
1886
Special Uniforms for the Artillery.
[...]
Bombardier.--Same as corporal except chevrons on arms and cap which are 1 bar.
1942
Sgt. Norm Morrison [...] now overseas with the R.C.A.F. as a bombardier-navigator, took part in the recent raids [...]
1993
Like most of his classmates, Short, 67, waived the right to officer training and went overseas as a bombardier.
2008
The latest fatality, [...] comes less than a week after Bombardier Jeremie Ouellet of 1st Regiment, [...] was found dead Tuesday in an accommodation facility.
2013
The Conservative government has unveiled another step in its program to reconnect the Canadian Armed Forces with their British roots.
National Defence Minister Peter MacKay has announced the army will ditch the maple leaf rank designators used on officers' shoulder boards in favour of the "pips" and crowns the Brits use to tell lieutenants (that's leff-tennant, not lou-tennant) from colonels, The Canadian Press reports.
The army's non-commissioned officers and below will also be referred to by their original British Army and Commonwealth rank designations, CP says.
So the American-style private will give way to ranks such as trooper, bombardier, rifleman or guardsman, depending on the type of unit, CP reports.
References
- COD-2
- ITP Nelson
- Gage-5