This book tells the story of the 75th Battalion (later the Toronto Scottish Regiment) and the five thousand men who formed it, most from Toronto, from all walks of life. They included professionals, university graduates, white- and blue-collar workers, labourers, and the unemployed, some illiterate. They left a comfortable existence in the prosperous, strongly pro-British provincial capital for life in the trenches of France and Flanders. Tommy Church, mayor of Toronto from 1915 to 1921, sought to include his city's name in the unit's name because of the many city officials and local residents who served in it. Three years later Church accepted the 75th's now heavily emblazoned colours for safekeeping at City Hall from Lieutenant-Colonel Colin Harbottle, who returned with his bloodied but successful survivors. The author pulls no punches in recounting their labours, triumphs, and travails.

Part I : Toronto and Mississauga horsemen (1904-1914) -- Part II : Beckett's Fighting 75th (August 1915-March 1917) -- Part III : Harbottle's shock troops (May 1917- November 1918) -- Part IV : Harbottle's men carry on (December 1918-September 1939) -- Appendices.