F. Hedley Auld, University Chancellor, making presentation of an honourary Doctor of Laws degree to Judge Alexander Ross during Convocation held in Physical Education gymnasium. Norman K. Cram, University Registrar, hoods the recipient.

Bio/Historical Note: Alexander Ross was born in 1880 in Forest, Scotland. Ross was six years old when his family emigrated from Scotland to Silton, Saskatchewan. A pre-war militia member, he served as a recruiting officer in 1914. Once in France, Ross commanded the 28th Battalion (Northwest) from 1916-1918. He studied law and was admitted to the Bar of the Territories on his 21st birthday in 1901, and very soon attained a leading place in the legal profession. Ross was agent of the Attorney General for the Judicial District of Regina from 1906-1912, and was made a King's Counsel in 1914. On the formation of the 95th Saskatchewan Rifles he was commissioned as a lieutenant, and on the outbreak of war in 1914 he was posted to the 28th Northwest Battalion as a Captain and Company Commander. He served in France from September 1915 until April 1918, and rose to the rank of Brigadier General, commanding the 6th Canadian Infantry Brigade. For his war service he was made a companion of the Distinguished Service Order with bar, a companion of the most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, and was 7 times mentioned in despatches. On demobilization he commanded Military District No.12 until September 1920. After the war Ross returned to the law profession, being appointed District Judge of Yorkton. In 1925 when Field Marshal Earl Haig came to Canada to organize the Canadian Legion of the British Empire Service League, Judge Ross was one of the first to answer the call of his wartime commander, and he threw himself into the work of the Legion with tremendous energy, industry and zeal. He was president of the Yorkton Branch of the Legion from 1926 to 1930, president of the Saskatchewan Provincial Copland from 1930 to 1934, and Dominion president from 1934 to 1938. Ross heading the Vimy Pilgrimage of 1936. He was awarded the King George V Jubilee Medal in 1935 and the King George VI Medal in 1937. Ross was Honoree Colonel of the Regina Rifles Regiment. Ross is best known for his statement concerning the Battle of Vimy Ridge, made in 1967 on the 50th Anniversary of the battle: :It was Canada from the Atlantic to the Pacific on parade. I though then, and I think today, that in those few minutes I witnessed the birth of a nation.” Ross was chancellor of the Saskatchewan Anglican diocese of Qu'Appelle. Ross died in Yorkton in 1973 at age 92.