Raymond Brutinel

Brigadier-General Raymond Brutinel CB CMG DSO (May 6, 1882 – September 21, 1964) was a geologist, journalist, soldier, entrepreneur and a pioneer in the field of mechanized warfare who commanded the Canadian Automobile Machine Gun Brigade during World War I. Raymond Brutinel was born in Alet-les-Bains, Aude, France.

He went on to edit Le Courrier de l'Ouest in Edmonton, Alberta, the first French-language newspaper west of Winnipeg, Manitoba.

In August 1914, Major Raymond Brutinel enrolled the first recruits for the Canadian Machine Gun Corps in the Château Laurier Hotel in Ottawa, Ontario.

Major-General Georges Vanier, Canadian ambassador to France and future Governor General of Canada, recorded the "considerable help" Brutinel provided in evacuating embassy staff from Paris in June 1940 in advance of the German occupation of France in World War II.

In early July 1945, Winston Churchill holidayed in Brutinel's house, Chateau de Bordaberry, outside Hendaye in southwestern France, near the Spanish border.

Lieutenant General Sir Arthur Currie with H.R.H. Prince Arthur of Connaught and other senior officers. Brigadier General Raymond Brutinel is sat in the front row, first on the right.