Canadian Army Veteran Motorcycle Units

The Canadian Army Veteran Motorcycle Units (CAV MU) is a riding club, or more precisely an organized association of military veteran motorcycle riders.

The CAV MU is composed of thousands of Canadian Army, Royal Canadian Air Force and Royal Canadian Navy veterans and still serving members of the Canadian Forces, as well as veteran motorcycle enthusiasts from the UK, Australia and US. Many members have served in regiments, bases and ships both in Canada and in overseas theatres of operations.

The CAV MU attempts to maintain the values of uniformed service; those of integrity, legitimacy, honour and strength in their veteran's duties to their community, and to keep alive the bonds formed during their military service.

CAV members ride motorcycles of different types, including cruisers, baggers, choppers, sport bikes, tricycles (more commonly referred to as trikes), touring motorcycles, and dual-sport and enduro.

History[edit]

Started in 2003, two military veteran motorcyclists meeting at a local charity ride, developed an idea that a military motorcyclist organization was needed. The two co-founders, P.M. 'Trapper' Cane and J.S.Y. 'Doc' Lebrun adopted the name Canadian Army Veteran (CAV) and a WWII crest of a despatch rider as their crest, which had been used in a World War II recruiting poster in Canada. The co-founders' inspiration was the continuance of the military comradeship that brothers-in-arms experience.

Within the first five years The CAV had grown by thousands of riding military veterans and Canadian Forces (CF) from across Canada and Canada's North. Now named as Canadian Army Veteran Motorcycle Units (CAV MU) this military motorcycle organization now reflects a more national scope.

As the CAV MU grew so did the organizational requirements, although the emphasis remains on individual units.

Fundraising and awards[edit]

The CAV MU, has helped raise funds for international, national and local charities, totalling in the millions of dollars. CAV was the 2007 recipient of the ICROSS Humanitarian Award.

Formations and units[edit]

Due to the strong military association, instead of more typical 'chapters', the CAV is organised along military lines, into four formations comprising several units. Each unit is named after or associated with a 'battle honour'. Many units possess a membership in the hundreds.

The CAV has a national headquarters and three formation headquarters (HQ). 1st CAV is based generally on central Canada, including Quebec, 2nd CAV is based on Newfoundland and Labrador and the Maritimes, and 3rd CAV on Western and Northern Canada. A fourth formation, CAV International was developed to provide units to Canadian veterans and CF members in different parts of the world.

Central Canada[edit]

1st CAV HQ, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec
Battle of Vimy Ridge Vimy Unit
Battle of Amiens Unité Amiens (French)
Operation Shingle Anzio Unit
Korean War Unité Coreé, (French)
Dieppe Raid Dieppe Unit
Juno Beach Juno Unit
Battle of Kapyong Kapyong Unit
Battle of Normandy Normandy Unit
Battle of Assoro Assoro Unit
Battle of Ortona Ortona Unit
Paardeberg Unit
Battle of the Somme Somme Unit
Falaise gap Falaise Unit
Battle of Cambrai (1917) Cambrai Unit
Hindenburg Line Hindenburg Line
Allied invasion of Sicily Assoro Unit
Operation Undergo Unité Calais (French)
Operation Blockbuster Hochwald Unit
North Russia Campaign Archangel Unit
The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada (Princess Louise's) BAD ZWISCHENAHN Unit^[1]
Regalbuto Unit
Rhineland Unit
Sicily Unit
St Lawrence Unit
Verrieres Ridge Unit
Arras Unit
Casa Berardi Unit
Cassino Unit
Gulf Kuwait Unit
Niagara Unit
Oldenburg Unit
Ruhr Unit (French)
Ma sum Ghar Unit Afghanistan (French)
Panjwai Unit Afghanistan (French)

Eastern Canada[edit]

2nd CAV HQ
Battle of Passchendaele Passchendaele Unit
Beaumont-Hamel Unit
Battle of the Atlantic Unit
Gothic line Unit
Battle of Gallipoli Gallipoli Unit
Boer War South Africa Unit
Battle of Dunkirk Dunkirk Unit
Fortress Europe Unit

Western and Northern Canada[edit]

3rd CAV HQ
Ypres Unit
Royal Canadian Engineers Ubique Unit
Second Battle of Ypres Frezenberg Unit
Gustav Line Liri Valley Unit
Battle of the Reichswald The Reichswald Unit
Operation Tonga Dives Crossing Unit
Gothic Line Coriano Ridge Unit
Battle of Britain Battle of Britain Unit
Battle of the Scheldt Scheldt Unit
Gothic Line Rimini Unit
Battle for Caen Caen Unit
Hill 70 Unit
Mount Sorrel Unit
The Moro River Campaign The Moro Unit
Kosovo War Kosovo Unit
Battle of the Ancre Heights Unit
Second Battle of Ypres Gravenstafel Unit

C.A.V. International[edit]

UK
Europe
US
Middle East

References[edit]

^ "Bad Zwischenahn". Archived from the original on 10 March 2005. Retrieved 15 July 2008.

External links[edit]

The CAV MU website

[1] "Bad Zwischenahn". Archived from the original on 10 March 2005. Retrieved 15 July 2008.

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