Thomas Hanson

My name is Tom Hanson. I was born in Montreal and joined the Army in Montreal in early September 1939. I was trained as a commercial telegraph operator before the war, so I joined the Signal Corps, naturally.

I went overseas with 1st Corps Signals, and served with them in England until mid-September of 1943, at which time we were sent to Sicily with the 2nd Contingent, including the 5th Division and a number of core troops, artillery regiments, to reinforce the 1st Division which were already there. To support them and create, in effect, a full Canadian corps.

I served in Italy, coming up as far as Ravenna on the Adriatic coast and taking along the way the action at Cassino. From Ravenna we moved down to Naples and then to Marseille to join the Canadian Army in northwest Europe. I was with them until the end of hostilities, and then volunteered for action in the Pacific. I came home, but the war in the Pacific ended before the proposed 6th Canadian Division was mobilized and could be moved there effectively.

Because my wife and my children have asked me very often about the war, and not willing to be fatiguing about it, I started to write about it, and I've written so far about three particular incidents. The death of a young soldier while he and I were talking. Another one concerns a line patrol to repair a ruptured communication line with my Corporal, who received the Military Medal for that particular action. Also, one about the experience of being bombed out in a soldiers' hostel in London in 1941.

In this one incident, I was a Sergeant in the signals section attached to the 1st Canadian Medium Artillery Regiment, and included in this section was a component known as the 'Line Section'. They were responsible in the signals for laying telegraph lines. One night when we were in Ravenna, and getting a fairly heavy counter battery fire, a Corporal of the Line Section – a chap by the name of Percy Gunn – came up to me and told me that he was out of manpower. His men were all employed, and we had to go out and find break in the communication line to some other artillery regiment, and could I find a man for him. I couldn't find one, so I went with him. While I was senior in rank to him, I was acting under his direction because it was his trade, not mine. Anyway, it was pretty busy. We got caught in fairly heavy shellfire at the point where the line had been burned out, because a truck loaded with ammunition or fuel or something had been hit and burned. It was kind of noisy and very lit up, which gives you the impression the whole German Army are looking over your shoulder. So we got the job done, got it fixed and went back, and a result of that, Perce Gunn got the Military Medal.

Jack Neilson

My name is Jack Neilson. I served in the Canadian Army Signal Corps. And I think that from a very early age I was destined to join the armed forces. My great grandfather served in the British Army. My grandfather in the Canadian Army during 1918. And my father in the army from 1930 to 1951.

My own service runs from 1954 to 1982. I had a desire for travel and adventure and looked on the military as the best way to fulfill that desire. In 1954 I joined the Naval Reserve as a communicator. In 1955 I transferred to the regular Navy, again, as a communicator and I set off for HMCS Cornwallis for basic training. Things went well 'til the end of basic when we were on a final training cruise and it was discovered my eyesight wasn't good enough for my trade. Kind of a funny story on that one. The first incident was I reported a light which ended up being a star just rising over the horizon. The second was reporting an aircraft which turned out to be a seagull. That's when they sent me for the eye test. So my only options given were to transfer to cook or steward or take my leave 'cause all the other trades were full. Even though I'd attempted a career in the Navy, I always wonder if the army should have been my choice.

They released me from the Navy and I was told to report to the Army Recruiting Centre in Winnipeg. In September of '56 I enlisted in the army and I reported to the School of Signals in Kingston, Ontario. And at that time basic training was infantry-oriented, very tough. This was followed by driver training and dispatch rider training. Dispatch riders delivered messages in the field by motorcycles or sometimes by Jeep. On completion of training I was posted to the 1st Canadian Infantry Division Signals Regiment in Camp Borden, Ontario as a dispatch rider.

In 1958, was assigned to 3 Brigade Signals which relocated to Gagetown, New Brunswick. In 1961 I did a partial tour in October to November, with the United Nations operation in the Congo. And I worked out of Leopoldville, which is now Kinshasa in a detachment to provide communications relay functions. Our mandate was to prevent civil war, arrange a cease fire and halt all military operations. Prior to this was the apprehension and detention of all foreign military and para-military personnel not under UN command. And it was specifically related to mercenaries. Use of force was authorized. Maintaining the territorial integrity of the Congo was added to the mandate which led to the UN fighting the ... forces in the Catanga Province, these were led by foreign mercenaries again.

On return from the Congo I was a posted to a newly formed unit attached NORTHAG, the Northern Army Group of NATO. We provided strategic communications at the headquarters level and tactical communications for the British Army of the Rhine. Our role was to act as a first line reaction defensive force in the event of a Soviet invasion.

On return from NORTHAG in 1965 I was posted to Camp Borden Signal Squadron where we provided communications facilities and working in a blast-proof underground bunker. This also had facilities so the Ontario Government could continue to function in the event of a nuclear attack.

And then in 1966 the Canadian Armed Forces Motorcycle Display Team was formed to participate in centennial activities during 1967. I volunteered and, after very rugged testing and evaluation period was selected for their team. We provided a 45-minute show which included high speed precision riding, acrobatic stunts on motorcycles, jumping through fire, etcetera. We also provided two 10-man teams who provided similar services to the Canadian Armed Forces Tattoo.

From May to October in 1967 we did a cross Canada tour performing in 105 locations from BC to Newfoundland.

Michael Gerard Blaise “Chip” Young

I went up around the Annapolis Valley [Nova Scotia], but the camp I finally went to, to take my training, my basic training, and my advanced training, was at the Barriefield [Camp], [in Kingston,] Ontario. And it was good up there, we lived in tents. In fact, I ran into my older brother who was in the army, he was up there at Barriefield waiting on an overseas draft for England at that time. The oldest brother, his name is Cletus, John Cletus, he’s up in Sudbury, up around Sudbury, Ontario or Sault Ste. Marie. He’s in his 90s now.

I believe, from Kingston, Ontario, when the first time, I was up in Barriefield and that and missed the drafts, I think it was after that that I went up to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. And, from Yellowknife, I went to Norman Wells, Northwest Territories. And I went to a place they called Baker Lake, Northwest Territories, as an army radio operator. And that was a four-man [station], there was a sergeant and a cook and three of us operators, by the Baker Lake, there were other [radio stations in the north], not very much. I can remember that, at times, I met Eskimos that had never seen a white man, a white person before, and the caribou herds used to, right on the camp, was right next to the station, right next to the caribou trail. Caribous start marching by, it might take five, six days, or a week for the whole herd to pass through. It was thousands upon thousands upon thousands. You wouldn’t believe it, it’s something you’d have to see to believe.

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