The 31st Battalion, CEF was raised as one of the four fighting battalions destined for the 6th Brigade, 2nd Division Canadian Expeditionary Force

Canadian Expeditionary Force

The Canadian Expeditionary Force was the designation of the field force created by Canada for service overseas in the First World War. Units of the C.E.F. were divided into field formation in France, where they were organized first into separate divisions and later joined together into a single...

, on 15 March 1915. The battalion commander until late in the war was Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Henry Bell of Calgary.

On 17 May 1915, the battalion sailed for England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 on the , with a complement of 36 officers and 1033 other ranks.

After initial training in England, the battalion fought in Belgium and France, and was often at the forefront of the fighting at St. Eloi Craters, the Ypres Salient, Vimy Ridge (Thélus Village), Fresnoy, the Somme, Passchendaele Village, the Battle of Amiens, the Battle of Arras, Drocourt-Quéant Switch, Valenciennes, Mons, and the occupation of the Rhine.

The bulk of the battalion returned to Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 on the SS Cedric on 27 May 1919, and to Calgary on 1 June 1919. Through the course of World War I, the 31st Battalion suffered losses of 941 dead, and an additional 2,312 non-fatal casualties.

A total of 4,487 men served in the battalion. The 31st Canadian Infantry Battalion CEF was disbanded on 15 September 1920.

Perpetuation

Perpetuation of the 31st Battalion was assigned to The Alberta Regiment in 1920. When this regiment split in two in 1924, both The South Alberta Regiment and The North Alberta Regiment carried the perpetuation. The North Albertas disbanded in 1936. The South Alberta Regiment merged into the The South Alberta Light Horse (29th Armoured Regiment) in 1954, and this regiment (now simply "The South Alberta Light Horse

The South Alberta Light Horse

The South Alberta Light Horse, or SALH, is an armoured reconnaissance unit of the Canadian Forces Army Reserve based in Medicine Hat and Edmonton, Alberta...

") carries on the perpetuation of the 31st Battalion, CEF, and has the battalion's battle honours on its guidon.