Kenneth Adams Hunter OBE,

CStJ The Order of St John, short for Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (french: l'ordre très vénérable de l'Hôpital de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem) and also known as St John International, is a British royal order of c ...

, CD, QHP, (born 28 August 1904) was the 17th and 20th Canadian Surgeon General.

Biography

Born in

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...

, Kenneth A. Hunter was educated at the University of Western Ontario, where he graduated with a Medical Degree in 1930. During his studies, Hunter was a member of the Non-Permanent Army Militia (NPAM) and was in the

Machine Gun Corps The Machine Gun Corps (MGC) was a corps of the British Army, formed in October 1915 in response to the need for more effective use of machine guns on the Western Front in the First World War. The Heavy Branch of the MGC was the first to use tank ...

from 1922 to 1926. In 1927, he joined the regular force in the Machine Gun Corps as a Lieutenant and remained with this corps until 1930; at which time, Hunter joined the

Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps The Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC) was an administrative corps of the Canadian Army. The Militia Medical Service was established in 1898. It consisted of an Army Medical Service (officers) and an Army Medical Corps (other ranks). ...

(RCAMC). He was promoted to Captain in 1931, Major in 1939, Lieutenant-Colonel in 1940, Colonel in 1943. During World War II, Hunter served with the RCAMC throughout Europe from 1940 to 1943, and for his service with 2nd Field Ambulance during the attack on Dieppe, he was Mentioned in Dispatch in 1942. In 1945, Hunter was also awarded the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

. Hunter was promoted to Brigadier in 1952 and appointed Director General Medical Services (Army). In 1957 Brigadier Hunter was appointed Director General Joint Medical Services. This was prelude to his promotion in 1959 to be Major-General and assume the new position of Surgeon General, which he helped create by the integration of the medical services of the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army and Royal Canadian Air Force, to form a single professional-technical organization, the Canadian Forces Medical Service (CFMS). Hunter retired soon afterwards.

References

Surgeons General of Canada Canadian Officers of the Order of the British Empire 1904 births Year of death missing Place of birth missing Canadian Army personnel of World War II Canadian Machine Gun Corps officers Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps officers Canadian Militia officers Canadian military personnel from Ontario Canadian generals {{Canada-mil-bio-stub