I was posted to 4CIBG HQ and Signal Sqn, Fort Henry, West Germany in May 1965 and this is a recollection of some experiences and accounts that happened during my tour. It pertains to more than just another posting but a life style change. Life as it was and how we were able to overcome boredom and hardships. How sports was not only an enjoyment and pastime for soldiers but also in some cases entertainment for colleagues and dependents.
I have included some of the names of the soldiers that I remembered, those I missed I apologize.
How the Signal Sqn was able to bring radio play by play into the barracks and homes of dependents. I had been posted to Shilo Man, 2 SSM BTY and on posting to Germany, my wife of one month was sent on an SPR to her fathers farm in Sask. I then proceeded to Trenton, Ontario and departed for the city of Dusseldorf, W/Germany and after a 11 hour flight, on a Yukon, we were put on buses and transported to Fort St Louis at Werle. The Signals personnel were picked up by Staff Sgt Hayes and brought to Ft Henry. There we were billeted in Barracks about 20 personnel to a room ,bed spaces, separated only by lockers. The next few days we cleared in and were assigned to a troop Rear or Main and as the Sqn was on exercise in Sennelager we were given a few days to secure Quarters off base for our spouses. I can only surmise what happened after my wife was sent on an SPR, the SSM Bty went on excersise and followed by leave, postings and new personnel, the Sqn in Germany was also going through the same phases and somewhere along the line, she was dropped through the cracks and was lost in the system. I had mentioned we were only married a month before posting instructions so after a month and no communications from the military about her departure and I being sent to Sennelager shortly after arrival in Germany, one has to understand that mail was slow and the phone system was unreliable from Europe, Well her family was beginning to have doubts about my integrity. So they started with Camp Dundurn and had no joy so they then tried Moose Jaw which was an Air Base. After some time, they did get through to Shilo . Now on top of this confusion you have a frantic wife, mother and father-in-law in doubt and new personnel trying to figure out what to do, Well they eventually got it figured out after about two months and she received her travel orders. Those were the days that the Army thought if you needed a wife they would have issued you with one. I know its an old cliche but anyone that was around at that time will understand.
After my initial intro into this strange land of handles for door knobs and a quick briefing by CPL Paul Cook and Jim Lefebvre on culture and language, and that peeing against a wall in a Gasthof was ok (that's another story). This followed by an initiation to Germany through the Green Shack. (local Gasthof). This was my first posting to the Brigade Group, 4CIBG HQ and Signal Squadron. The CO was Major Elliote and the SSM was George MacMillan. The Brigade was divided into three distinct areas where different units were situated Soest, Werle and Iserlohne and all with dependents living in different little villages on the economy. Transportation and language was a major barrier for most families that lived in rural communities. Each area had centrally located schools for dependent children and Military food stores to purchase food and other items of necessity. The hospital was BMH located in Iserlohne. There had to be about 10,000 people with the soldiers and their families.
There were a lot of people with limited entertainment outside of the Base messes, the Red Patch club and the Sally Ann in Soest, the other areas all had the same sort of resources. TV was virtually nonexistent and if it was, it would be in German. Limited phone system facilities and undependable, mail was slow. Radio was German, US, British. CAE was our local Canadian Radio Broadcast station at Werle and it serviced all areas. So, much of our entertainment was through local sports between the Major and Minor units. Hockey, at the time was a big thing in Canada and Sat nite was hockey nite in Canada almost every village, town, city had a hockey team and they filled the arenas. Well, the same was happening in the Canadian military bases in Europe and they had a large fan base, made up of Servicemen, family members and Germans. The Air Force had a league in Southern Germany and France and the Army had a league in Northern Germany, Each Major unit had a team, I am not sure when, it started but there were ice hockey arenas in the three areas i previously mentioned. Ft Chambly had a hockey team that played in the Major units league, made up of minor units personnel from Fts. Henry and Chambly, Werle and Iserlohne had similar teams. Signal personnel were well represented and if a Sigs player ended up anywhere other than Ft Henry and he was a good player you could bet your puttees it would be rectified the following year. Hockey was taken seriously and the Huskies were known as the Brigade Commanders team, unofficially of course. For the next three years names like Frank Peters, Paul Murphy, John Murray, George Indian Pambrun and Tinker Branscombe played for the Ft Chambly Huskies. During this period the Huskies won the League championship, twice and the playoffs once and the Saurerland cup trophy. Ft Henry had a hockey team in the minor league made up primarily of 4 Signal Squadron personnel, with players like Les Adams, Danny Dumas, Jean Vezina,Tim Fields, Earle Shields, John Clements, Ikey Bonnefont, Gerry Coady, Billy Ford and goal tenders "Make them shoot from the red line" Doggie Clyke and Pepe Lemieux. We also had a super Ball Team, with players such as Ike Bonnefant, Tim Fields, Jim Nelson, Magistate, Billy Ford, Jim Laird, Fred Crow, Smiley Furness and George Pambrun and we also competed in Volley Ball and Basketball, One year under the directorship of Dick Wilbur and Dave Russell we won three championships, Hockey, Softball and Volleyball. The year of the Centennial 1967 was when the Canadian marching teams first participated as a contingent in the famous 4 Day Nijmegen Marches, where we had our own billets and kitchen. Names such as Joie Durrell, Zip A'hearn, Les Adams, Bob Molyneaux, George Pambrun, Jim Lefebvre, Pete Fox and Lt Terriault. We marched (not walked) the whole way thanks to Sgts Adams and Molyneaux, I said at that time I would never do this again.
I had mentioned that entertainment was limited and that few people had transportation. I would like to mention how the ingenuity and effort of personnel of 4 Signal Sqn were able to bring play by play hockey games to the fans that could not attend, by employing existing military equipment. Radio Relay was a relatively new system in the army and capable of handling large volumes of message traffic, it was a Brit System but not user friendly in many ways. By this I mean it required a technician to operate the radios and the mast and antenna were made of heavy metal and used a spar system and winch to erect. It required at least 5 or 6 personnel a couple of hours or more, depending on conditions, to put up the apparatus. Someone in their infinite wisdom came up with the idea to broadcast hockey games, play by play, into the local area, something that had never been done before. I remember Cpl Burt Haines being in charge of one of the stations. They would have one detachment near the arena where the game was being played and the other detachment at CAE where it was hooked into the system for rebroadcast by Tech Sgt Mitchell. The system worked well. Paul Cook was a self taught play by play commentator and Russ Barnaby was a colour commentator. They had a Hot Stove portion and conducted interviews to help promote interest.There were many Sigs personnel who were behind the scenes and I can't remember their names but it does this old soldiers heart good to remember some of them. All members of the Sqn played a part in the planning, logistics and operation of the system,witch brought joy and entertainment to the local area listeners.
I want to end this with a funny story as I had previously mentioned my wife never got over for 2 months and that was true of many other couples. And I mentioned this because it plays a part in this story. We, the Fort Chambly Huskies used to travel to Holland, Belgium and France, and played against local hockey teams, Well, this one time we were in Holland playing in Amsterdam and it was one time we brought our spouses and girl friends. After the game we had dinner and a few drinks and someone decided that we should take the women down to see the sites on Canal Street. So, off we went with great anticipation and the wives and girlfriends holding tightly on to their spouses. They were apprehensive and were not sure how the girls on the street may react. Many of our team were single and experienced and they told our spouses, not to stare but be polite and act natural (what the hell does that mean)? No one wants to be embarrassed I suspect. We got onto the street and there, were the girls of the nite, all makes shapes and nationalities (a young mans dream, yeah right), in doorways and in the windows, classy and well dressed. One of the street girls very well groomed and pretty, hollers out of the blue and too our shock and dismay" Tinker baby, where have you been, I missed you and how are you doing? Come to Momma." and she grabs him. There was dead silence and a million thoughts are racing through minds You could have heard a pin drop and I still have memory of Judy"s strangling grip on my upper arm. We are all aghast, mouths open ( remember what I said about separation anxiety, well its kicks in) This could be any one? Nancy, Tinkers wife, has a death grip on him, jaw drops in utter astonishment and disbelief, followed by a poignant pause. (Tinker was our goal tender a Sgt and a bit older than most of us). After what seemed to be an eternity, this girl starts to laugh and says "Gotcha". one of your friends had set you up, Tommy Thompson, a single rat, with a mischievous attitude, fesses up . After a period of time blood pressure starts to return to normal. Adrenaline is still running high and we all start to laugh. I will never forget that moment and that girl, she was so polite and apologetic with Nancy. What a night to remember.
One has to understand and appreciate the time frame. Germany was still recovering from the war, we had just been through the Cuban Missile crisis and we are sitting in Northern Germany part of the BAOR in the middle of what appeared to be, nowhere. Few people had cars, most Germans did not. We as soldiers had little pay, so we had to make the best of it and we did. We were there as an integral part of the Defence Force but we also had to exist as communities, of which we did and sports played a major role. 4 Signal Sqn and personnel played a great part in helping and providing that entertainment We also have to salute our spouses for enduring the hardships and the support they gave us.
This was only some of my memories of of that period and Fort Henry which no longer exists. The last time I was there the camp was being torn down and it was to become a housing development.. The Green Shack is no longer a shack but a very upstanding Gasthof… but the friendly ghosts of those soldiers and experiences that helped it get there will always be there to haunt it.
Wednesday, August 1, 2018
Discrimination and Harassment by George Pambrun
Discrimination and Harassment by George Pambrun
I was attending a Communications Command conference in Trenton, Ont around 1979-80 and it was made up of members from all the Communication Groups across Canada. The meet and greet was great and the Command Chief CWO Tommy O’Neil, Joey Izzard, LC Smith, and many others partied into the wee hours of the morning. The next morning Tommie looked like he never had a drink and the rest of us looked and felt like death warmed over.
Tommy was conducting the opening remarks and an address on the topics of Discrimination and Harassment, so I thought I would just veg. through this, you know how long winded and verbose he could be, so I pushed my chair back so I wouldn’t be noticed. And I could hear him talking on the subject and that we were to be aware of and what courses of action, blah blah blah.
Then he related to an incident for which he was accused of discrimination and that he was harassed. This happened, following a Change of Command parade in CFB Petawawa in the late 60’s. He was the SSM and he went on to describe in detail the preparations for the parade, taking pain staking precautions to ensure everything was perfect. “The troopies were made up of all different, races and ethnic groups, it looked like a UN parade, he said.” The Officers and Commanding officer had taken over the parade and the Brigade Commander, staff and spectators were in the stands. He said he saw movement on the right side of the parade ground and saw two soldiers standing there. It was then he said, “I realized my oversight.” There were no Indians on this parade. The rest of the parade went off without a hitch and he felt very good about the whole affair It wasn’t until after the parade that he was unceremoniously accosted by these two characters and accused of discrimination, in that there were no Indians on his parade and then, he was unceremoniously harassed after the fact. Can you imagine, Tommie being harassed? And he said “further to this, one of those abusers is present here today".
I had started to pay closer attention, after the word Indian and started looking for the guilty bastard. I saw everyone staring at me. He had painted such an over exaggerated word picture of the event that it was hilarious especially coming from someone of his position and rank and storytelling ability, and the fact that I had developed quite a reputation over the years that everyone was laughing, and looking at me. Over the years Tommy found the story humorous and he felt comfortable enough to exploit this incident and turn it into a very funny story and relating it to the topic of Discrimination and Harassment only reverse to the normal situation, him being the victim. He had to have told that story many times in order to perfect it, as he did. He had been looking in my direction all along, unbeknownst to me, the audience followed the direction of his stare, (Tommie’s eyes (glass eye).
Now we all know that Tommy, God rest his soul, was a fine story teller. The story had some merit to it and on occasion, Cliff Pompana or I would play the part of being the abused and neglected Indian, in fun of course, but there were no Indians on parade, so what an opportunity to have some fun. Cliff played it right to the hilt, now I did not know Tommy at the time so I was guilty by association, Little did we know that this incident would come back to haunt one of us. This had taken place 10 years previously.
This incident took place in Jun/July 1968. I had recently been posted to 2 Sigs from 4 Sigs in Germany and the first people I meet are Dennis Stow, Terry Pringle, Tommy Carter, Jerry Fleming, Tom Casey, Fish Millar, Sack McLaren and a fellow Indian from western Canada Cliff Pompana. There were a lot more but their names have slipped my mind. I say this because it would give the reader an idea of some of the characters in the Sqn.
Cliff knew everyone and he had developed quite a reputation in the Sqn and had a great sense of humor. Cliff Pompana was on excused duty and I was not cleared into the Sqn, so we were excused from the parade.
I did not know Tommy other than as “Sir” and that he was the SSM at that time.
Yes I was there, at the after parade party and after a few drinks, I do remember Cliff talking to Tommie and Cliff, goading him on the fact that he did not have any aboriginal people on the parade but it was all done respectfully and with humour.
Over the years I got to know Tommie quite well and we became good friends. He appreciated the fact that I was proud of my heritage and that I could take a joke, and had a good sense of humor. He knew how I would react to the story and I was surprised and proud that he thought enough of me and Cliff to relate the story, though somewhat exaggerated. I had actually forgotten about the incident and I would be remiss to not pass it on. I hope those reading this account, will read it in the context for which it was meant (Humorous).
The last visit I had with Tommy was in Ottawa, he had retired from the Military and was working as a Commissionaire, we had a great chuckle over this incident. Tommy was a great soldier, leader, role model and friend, he was a character, I hope someone that knew him well, writes a BIO on him. I salute you my friend. VVV
I was attending a Communications Command conference in Trenton, Ont around 1979-80 and it was made up of members from all the Communication Groups across Canada. The meet and greet was great and the Command Chief CWO Tommy O’Neil, Joey Izzard, LC Smith, and many others partied into the wee hours of the morning. The next morning Tommie looked like he never had a drink and the rest of us looked and felt like death warmed over.
Tommy was conducting the opening remarks and an address on the topics of Discrimination and Harassment, so I thought I would just veg. through this, you know how long winded and verbose he could be, so I pushed my chair back so I wouldn’t be noticed. And I could hear him talking on the subject and that we were to be aware of and what courses of action, blah blah blah.
Then he related to an incident for which he was accused of discrimination and that he was harassed. This happened, following a Change of Command parade in CFB Petawawa in the late 60’s. He was the SSM and he went on to describe in detail the preparations for the parade, taking pain staking precautions to ensure everything was perfect. “The troopies were made up of all different, races and ethnic groups, it looked like a UN parade, he said.” The Officers and Commanding officer had taken over the parade and the Brigade Commander, staff and spectators were in the stands. He said he saw movement on the right side of the parade ground and saw two soldiers standing there. It was then he said, “I realized my oversight.” There were no Indians on this parade. The rest of the parade went off without a hitch and he felt very good about the whole affair It wasn’t until after the parade that he was unceremoniously accosted by these two characters and accused of discrimination, in that there were no Indians on his parade and then, he was unceremoniously harassed after the fact. Can you imagine, Tommie being harassed? And he said “further to this, one of those abusers is present here today".
I had started to pay closer attention, after the word Indian and started looking for the guilty bastard. I saw everyone staring at me. He had painted such an over exaggerated word picture of the event that it was hilarious especially coming from someone of his position and rank and storytelling ability, and the fact that I had developed quite a reputation over the years that everyone was laughing, and looking at me. Over the years Tommy found the story humorous and he felt comfortable enough to exploit this incident and turn it into a very funny story and relating it to the topic of Discrimination and Harassment only reverse to the normal situation, him being the victim. He had to have told that story many times in order to perfect it, as he did. He had been looking in my direction all along, unbeknownst to me, the audience followed the direction of his stare, (Tommie’s eyes (glass eye).
Now we all know that Tommy, God rest his soul, was a fine story teller. The story had some merit to it and on occasion, Cliff Pompana or I would play the part of being the abused and neglected Indian, in fun of course, but there were no Indians on parade, so what an opportunity to have some fun. Cliff played it right to the hilt, now I did not know Tommy at the time so I was guilty by association, Little did we know that this incident would come back to haunt one of us. This had taken place 10 years previously.
This incident took place in Jun/July 1968. I had recently been posted to 2 Sigs from 4 Sigs in Germany and the first people I meet are Dennis Stow, Terry Pringle, Tommy Carter, Jerry Fleming, Tom Casey, Fish Millar, Sack McLaren and a fellow Indian from western Canada Cliff Pompana. There were a lot more but their names have slipped my mind. I say this because it would give the reader an idea of some of the characters in the Sqn.
Cliff knew everyone and he had developed quite a reputation in the Sqn and had a great sense of humor. Cliff Pompana was on excused duty and I was not cleared into the Sqn, so we were excused from the parade.
I did not know Tommy other than as “Sir” and that he was the SSM at that time.
Yes I was there, at the after parade party and after a few drinks, I do remember Cliff talking to Tommie and Cliff, goading him on the fact that he did not have any aboriginal people on the parade but it was all done respectfully and with humour.
Over the years I got to know Tommie quite well and we became good friends. He appreciated the fact that I was proud of my heritage and that I could take a joke, and had a good sense of humor. He knew how I would react to the story and I was surprised and proud that he thought enough of me and Cliff to relate the story, though somewhat exaggerated. I had actually forgotten about the incident and I would be remiss to not pass it on. I hope those reading this account, will read it in the context for which it was meant (Humorous).
The last visit I had with Tommy was in Ottawa, he had retired from the Military and was working as a Commissionaire, we had a great chuckle over this incident. Tommy was a great soldier, leader, role model and friend, he was a character, I hope someone that knew him well, writes a BIO on him. I salute you my friend. VVV
Saturday, July 21, 2018
Sara Berkshire
Ms. Sara Berkshire was born August 5, 1964 in Comox, British Columbia. Growing up in a military family, Sara was very interested in serving her country, wanting to make it her number one goal in life! To begin her military career, Sara briefly joined Cadets. Later on, she enlisted with the Army as a Communication Researcher (Communicator Research Operator) holding rank of Corporal. As well as serving In Canada, Sara served on missions to Kabul, Afghanistan. After being medically discharged in 2008, Sara left the Canadian Forces after 17 years service. Sara now resides in Kingston, Ontario.
Training a Bit Daunting!
Fear of the Unknown
Calling Out for my
Life!
After Effects of
Military Service
Wednesday, May 30, 2018
Kenneth “Ken” Greenhalgh
I went in for signals because two of my mates went in as well. We did a little training in England, I think about three months with signals, picking up the Morse Code, of course, which was around then. And then we were shipped abroad and we went to South Africa, Cape Town. From South Africa, we went to North Africa. Now, we found after that they kept us down there for the three months because the push was on El Alamein, to push the Germans out and we didn’t want to get involved in that too much. So we waited until they’d started and were pushing them to Tunis [Tunisia], the Jerries [nickname for the Germans].
And so we went up there, we went to Derna [Libya], they were nearly deserted towns then, Bizerta [Tunisia], and we ended up in Tunis, just as the Germans were being pushed out. We just saw the end of it. So from there, we went across to Sicily. I was there for, how long, we were pushing the Germans out and I was there for about four months. And then they pushed them out and a bit later on, I can’t specifically say dates because everything was so rushed at that time, but from there, we went across to Italy, Anzio. So we landed in [HMS] Azalea at Anzio and we joined up.
The thing was, our unit, we were a special wireless unit. We’d had two vans with aerials and we used to follow a German division across the front and take down all what they were talking about to one another. We joined up, we were with the Americans, we were with the Canadians. We were with the Polish Division, you know, wherever this German division was, we’d move across with it. And if they moved in front of another division, like Canadian, Polish, whatever, we’d join that division. The [Fallschirm-Panzer] Göring Division, that was one of them, we were chasing them for quite a while, Hermann Göring Division.
We had the special boys in with us, the intelligence. There were three of them in the van and when we took something down, we’d just wave it to them, they’d come over and they’d look at it to see if it’s worth sending through to headquarters. Many times it was because they were on the move, this Hermann Göring, so they had to keep up with them. One minute they were there and the next minute, they weren’t. So they wanted to know where each division was, you see.
I was an operator. I sat in front of a wireless set, wireless, and you just turned the dial. You see a big dial in the front, you’d turn that until you heard German and then you, and we’re off. On duty, there were about four of us, each time, there were about three shifts, you see, about 12 operators altogether. The only scary time was when we were going down a pass or we were just about to go down the pass, around this mountain, you see. And suddenly, we saw another heavily armoured group approaching the pass from the other end. So we thought, well, that’s funny because we were usually told if there’s our troops around. So we thought, well, we’ll wait a minute and hang on there, until somebody screamed, “They’re Jerries!” It was a German division coming up the other end and we were … That was very fast. We just turned around and bolted, I don’t know where we went.
And also we were at Cassino [Italy]. We were just above Cassino, so we had a good view of the battle down below because we had to get up high for our aerials, you see. And the division, Herman Göring I think, they were in, oh no, they were paratroopers. We had the Hermann Göring Division next door to Cassino. And we were keeping our eye on them, at the same time we could see the battle going on down below, which was a nasty one.
Link
And so we went up there, we went to Derna [Libya], they were nearly deserted towns then, Bizerta [Tunisia], and we ended up in Tunis, just as the Germans were being pushed out. We just saw the end of it. So from there, we went across to Sicily. I was there for, how long, we were pushing the Germans out and I was there for about four months. And then they pushed them out and a bit later on, I can’t specifically say dates because everything was so rushed at that time, but from there, we went across to Italy, Anzio. So we landed in [HMS] Azalea at Anzio and we joined up.
The thing was, our unit, we were a special wireless unit. We’d had two vans with aerials and we used to follow a German division across the front and take down all what they were talking about to one another. We joined up, we were with the Americans, we were with the Canadians. We were with the Polish Division, you know, wherever this German division was, we’d move across with it. And if they moved in front of another division, like Canadian, Polish, whatever, we’d join that division. The [Fallschirm-Panzer] Göring Division, that was one of them, we were chasing them for quite a while, Hermann Göring Division.
We had the special boys in with us, the intelligence. There were three of them in the van and when we took something down, we’d just wave it to them, they’d come over and they’d look at it to see if it’s worth sending through to headquarters. Many times it was because they were on the move, this Hermann Göring, so they had to keep up with them. One minute they were there and the next minute, they weren’t. So they wanted to know where each division was, you see.
I was an operator. I sat in front of a wireless set, wireless, and you just turned the dial. You see a big dial in the front, you’d turn that until you heard German and then you, and we’re off. On duty, there were about four of us, each time, there were about three shifts, you see, about 12 operators altogether. The only scary time was when we were going down a pass or we were just about to go down the pass, around this mountain, you see. And suddenly, we saw another heavily armoured group approaching the pass from the other end. So we thought, well, that’s funny because we were usually told if there’s our troops around. So we thought, well, we’ll wait a minute and hang on there, until somebody screamed, “They’re Jerries!” It was a German division coming up the other end and we were … That was very fast. We just turned around and bolted, I don’t know where we went.
And also we were at Cassino [Italy]. We were just above Cassino, so we had a good view of the battle down below because we had to get up high for our aerials, you see. And the division, Herman Göring I think, they were in, oh no, they were paratroopers. We had the Hermann Göring Division next door to Cassino. And we were keeping our eye on them, at the same time we could see the battle going on down below, which was a nasty one.
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Sandford Tuey
I'm Sandford Tuey. I was with Communication Research 291 in the Canadian Armed Forces.
I volunteered to serve in the Canadian Armed Forces from 1976 to 1979. I was straight out of high school, age seventeen, too young to join myself so I convinced my mother to sign me up, which she did.
I flew in a jet for the first time from Vancouver, BC to Canadian Forces base Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, where I went through very rigorous basic military training, harder than what was portrayed in Stanley Kubrick's movie Full Metal Jacket. My favourite course was 'Chemical, Biological and Nuclear Warfare' – an eye-opening subject for a teenager. To this day, it was one of the most stressful and physically demanding times of my life, but well worth the experience.
After graduating from basic training, I worked at Canadian Forces base Kingston to begin my trade – communications research. I learned general communications and how to operate many kinds of transmitters/receivers, typing, cryptography, to being able to copy Morse code to how to receive signals from telex and satellite. There were also courses like 'riot squad' and 'base defence', where dealing with anti-terrorism techniques and controlling rioting crowds was mandatory education. I was proud to graduate with a top-secret clearance level.
I was then stationed at Masset, Queen Charlotte Islands, in the British Columbia wonderful and beautiful group of the Haida Gwai'i Islands. Due to the top-secret nature of the work I did there, I am not liberty to discuss this other than to say that I continued to research communications for the benefit of Canada and NATO. If you visit the area today, you will still see the tall listening poles in a circle around the main building where I worked.
I then served six months – one hundred and eighty-three days and a wakie – at Canadian Forces station Alert, Northwest Territories, now Nunavut, at the northern tip of Ellesmere Island, four hundred miles south of the North Pole. So far north of the Arctic Circle that when you looked at a compass, magnetic north read southwest. When I arrived there it was pitch black twenty-four hours a day and deadly cold. In between whiteout blizzards, we would go outside to watch the aurora borealis swirling overhead, with its greenish blue and red ion trails. It was so quiet up there sometimes; you could even hear the northern lights crackle.
Researching communications from other countries during the Cold War was a dangerous time, and the servicemen like myself paid their dues during isolation duty received Special Forces medals. This is due to the fact that if the Cold War ever went hot, we could be one of the first bases to be attacked. Back in the '50s, '60s and '70s, there was always the chance that the Americans and the Russians would start World War III. I, however, always believed that the Cold War was World War III, based on the fact that hundreds of thousands of lives were lost, if not millions, in conflicts that took place all over the world since the end of World War II until the fall of the Berlin Wall in Germany and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Link
I volunteered to serve in the Canadian Armed Forces from 1976 to 1979. I was straight out of high school, age seventeen, too young to join myself so I convinced my mother to sign me up, which she did.
I flew in a jet for the first time from Vancouver, BC to Canadian Forces base Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, where I went through very rigorous basic military training, harder than what was portrayed in Stanley Kubrick's movie Full Metal Jacket. My favourite course was 'Chemical, Biological and Nuclear Warfare' – an eye-opening subject for a teenager. To this day, it was one of the most stressful and physically demanding times of my life, but well worth the experience.
After graduating from basic training, I worked at Canadian Forces base Kingston to begin my trade – communications research. I learned general communications and how to operate many kinds of transmitters/receivers, typing, cryptography, to being able to copy Morse code to how to receive signals from telex and satellite. There were also courses like 'riot squad' and 'base defence', where dealing with anti-terrorism techniques and controlling rioting crowds was mandatory education. I was proud to graduate with a top-secret clearance level.
I was then stationed at Masset, Queen Charlotte Islands, in the British Columbia wonderful and beautiful group of the Haida Gwai'i Islands. Due to the top-secret nature of the work I did there, I am not liberty to discuss this other than to say that I continued to research communications for the benefit of Canada and NATO. If you visit the area today, you will still see the tall listening poles in a circle around the main building where I worked.
I then served six months – one hundred and eighty-three days and a wakie – at Canadian Forces station Alert, Northwest Territories, now Nunavut, at the northern tip of Ellesmere Island, four hundred miles south of the North Pole. So far north of the Arctic Circle that when you looked at a compass, magnetic north read southwest. When I arrived there it was pitch black twenty-four hours a day and deadly cold. In between whiteout blizzards, we would go outside to watch the aurora borealis swirling overhead, with its greenish blue and red ion trails. It was so quiet up there sometimes; you could even hear the northern lights crackle.
Researching communications from other countries during the Cold War was a dangerous time, and the servicemen like myself paid their dues during isolation duty received Special Forces medals. This is due to the fact that if the Cold War ever went hot, we could be one of the first bases to be attacked. Back in the '50s, '60s and '70s, there was always the chance that the Americans and the Russians would start World War III. I, however, always believed that the Cold War was World War III, based on the fact that hundreds of thousands of lives were lost, if not millions, in conflicts that took place all over the world since the end of World War II until the fall of the Berlin Wall in Germany and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
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Monday, May 7, 2018
Monday, November 20, 2017
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
Gerry O'Pray
Gerry O'Pray in Egypt with Miss Canada 1966, Diane Landry from Manitoba. Miss Landry was part of a delegation sent to Egypt to entertain the UN troops stationed there.
My name is Gerry O’Pray. I’m originally from Nova Scotia and now living in Toronto. I joined the military when I was eighteen, and I joined the Royal Canadian Signals. I was sent to Kingston, Ontario where I took my basic training. I was there for a year, taking my basic training and my trades training. After my basic training, which was training as an infantry soldier, I took my trades training, which was as a teletype and safe (cipher) equipment technician. Which probably nobody recognizes now, because I don’t think anybody knows what a teletype machine is now, but that was our means of communication then – or one of our means of communication then. After graduating from my trades training, I had a brief leave at home in Nova Scotia, and was posted to Fredericton, New Brunswick, where I served until 1961.
When I was finished in Fredericton, I was sent to the Congo, which was an on-going United Nations mission, called "United Nations Mission in the Congo." What happened was, in 1960, when the Congo declared independence, the country quickly degenerated into chaos because, the former colonial masters, the Belgians, had not prepared the people for independence at all, and there was nobody to run anything. There were no engineers, there were no doctors, there were no nurses, there were no teachers. So the whole country just fell into chaos, so, the first democratically elected leader of Africa, [Prime Minister] Patrice Lumumba, called the United Nations.
Mainly, what we were doing there was just stabilizing the country so that the country could actually start to work again. And many, many UN civilians were there, as well as the soldiers. The tour of duty there was six months, and I spent four tours there. I was there from 1961 to 1963.
A lot of things happened while I was in the Congo. One of the things I remember was kind of a culture shock for me, as a young man coming from Nova Scotia. There were thirty-four different countries, I think, in that mission in the Congo. It was everybody from Malaysians to Nigerians, to Scandinavians, to Indians and Pakistanis. So – almost the whole world was there, at one time.
It was a huge mission. At one point I think there was about twenty to forty thousand troops there, so that mission to the Congo almost bankrupt the United Nations. It only lasted for four years and I was there for the middle two years.
One of the personal points, while I was there, was we used to take some ribbing from our Irish friends [UN personnel]. They used to come to our canteen from time to time. They were chiding us that, are we still under British rule? Because at the time we were flying the Red Ensign, because the Union Jack of course was on the Red Ensign. It looks almost exactly like the Ontario flag.
Link
Thursday, August 24, 2017
James Robert Murray
MURRAY, Robert James - Bob passed away on August 14, 2017
with dignity and respect. Bob was a part of the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals
and was a member of the Vimy Band, Air Transport Command Band and CFB
Chilliwack Band. After a 30 year career in the military, Bob was involved in
developing the LaSalle Seniors’ Band and was a charter member of the LaSalle
Causeway Swing Band. He was always ready to play Last Post for other comrades.
He recently received a commendation from the city of Kingston for his many
years of playing Last Post at the Cross of Sacrifice for Remembrance Day
Services. With his trumpet, his services spanned the 1967 Olympics, numerous
tours and installation of the “Jimmy” at the Vimy Gate. He is survived by his
partner Cori, his son Mark and Daughter Michelle and many grandchildren and
great grands. He is predeceased by daughter Monica and son Michael. So many
thanks to the fantastic palliative team at Providence Care Hospital. As music
was Bob’s life, we welcome friends to come and share memories and music at the
Royal Canadian Legion 560, Montreal Street in Kingston on Tuesday, August 29th
from 4-6 pm. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to
Joe’s Musical Instrument Lending Library. In care of GORDON F.
TOMPKINS FUNERAL HOME - CENTRAL CHAPEL, 613-546-5454. Sharing Memories online guestbook www.gftompkinscentral.ca13202589
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
Ken Slater
Clipped from: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/edmontonjournal/obituary.aspx?n=ken-slater&pid=100300446
SLATER, Ken On December 24, 2007, Ken Slater passed away after a brief struggle with cancer, at the age of 83. He will be lovingly remembered by his wife of 60 years, Helen; son Bruce, daughter Linda, brother George, nephew Kent and family, nieces Pamela Arnell and family, and Barbara Fortin and family, sister-in-law Florence Euler, and Bijou and Lachance in-laws as well as many friends from skiing, golfing, curling and the Northern Alberta Signals and Communications Association. Cremation has taken place. A Celebration of Ken's Life will be held on Friday, January 4, 2008 at 2:00 p.m., at Evergreen Funeral Chapel, 16204 Fort Road, Edmonton. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Alberta Cancer Foundation, 11560 University Avenue, Edmonton T6G 1Z2.
SLATER, Ken On December 24, 2007, Ken Slater passed away after a brief struggle with cancer, at the age of 83. He will be lovingly remembered by his wife of 60 years, Helen; son Bruce, daughter Linda, brother George, nephew Kent and family, nieces Pamela Arnell and family, and Barbara Fortin and family, sister-in-law Florence Euler, and Bijou and Lachance in-laws as well as many friends from skiing, golfing, curling and the Northern Alberta Signals and Communications Association. Cremation has taken place. A Celebration of Ken's Life will be held on Friday, January 4, 2008 at 2:00 p.m., at Evergreen Funeral Chapel, 16204 Fort Road, Edmonton. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Alberta Cancer Foundation, 11560 University Avenue, Edmonton T6G 1Z2.
Wednesday, May 31, 2017
Samson Young
Major Sampson Young is a first generation Canadian who immigrated to Canada as one of those thousands of refugees from South-East Asia. He is a Signals officer (RCCS) who joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 1990 and has been to two peacekeeping missions and two taskings (one in Canada and one at SHAPE (NATO)): 2006 in Bosnia, 2013 in D.R. Congo, 2014 in North West Territories and 2016 in Belgium. He has lived in three countries in three different political systems, from monarchy to communist in Laos, to monarchy in Thailand and now in a democratic system in Canada.
Read more: Link
Monday, May 29, 2017
Wayne Marshall
"I joined the Army in the fall of 1952, and went into a new apprentice soldier programme for boys that were sixteen years old. It was part of the regular Army. I served on continuously from then right up until just before I was fifty-six years old, giving me almost forty years of regular service."
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John Slater
"And all I was interested in was, I’m going home. It was a lovely time when I got that message. I thought, oh, thank God. I’m alive. And then, boom, shook the hell out of me."
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Laurence Giselle Bennett
When I enlisted, you chose what you would like to be. You could go into administration; that is stenography and that sort of thing. You could go into signals, RT was radio traffic control, which is what I wanted, different departments and I wanted traffic control but unfortunately, the section was closed when I applied so you had to go through a test and they helped you determine where you should go. And they decided signals would be for me because I guess I had rhythm and I could recognize things of that nature, so that’s why I went into signals, wireless training.
Read more Link
Read more Link
Saturday, May 27, 2017
Marshall Chow
Marshall Chow in Kingston, Ontario
This North Battleford, Saskatchewan native volunteered for service in Europe where he served for 4 years as a wireless operator.
Link
Thursday, May 25, 2017
Mary Laura Wong
Mary Laura Wong (Mah) enlisted with the CWAC (Canadian Women's Army Corps) in Vancouver, British Columbia where she was employed as a teletype keyboard operator. « View Transcript
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Tuesday, May 23, 2017
Hart Compilation
CTV Montreal: Heroic veteran recalls Dieppe raid | CTV Montreal News
Dieppe veterans recall fateful WWII battle
Link
Dieppe remembered, 70 years later: ‘We reached the beach, all hell broke loose’ - The Globe and Mail
Signaling celebrations and military achievements | Kingston East News
Dieppe
hero recounts his role on that fateful day
Canadian and Allied Jews at the Raid on Dieppe
Link
Two Canadian Jews were honored for their part in this battle. Sgt. David Lloyd Hart, Royal Canadian Corps of Signals, of Montreal, received the Military Medal at Buckingham Palace in the presence of hie two brothers who are also serving overseas, for his courage and efficiency in maintaining radio operations on the headquarters staff barge while it was under heavy enemy fire.
Canadian Dieppe Raid Veteran says it was supposed to be just another drill.
Link
Link
Two Canadian Jews were honored for their part in this battle. Sgt. David Lloyd Hart, Royal Canadian Corps of Signals, of Montreal, received the Military Medal at Buckingham Palace in the presence of hie two brothers who are also serving overseas, for his courage and efficiency in maintaining radio operations on the headquarters staff barge while it was under heavy enemy fire.
Canadian Dieppe Raid Veteran says it was supposed to be just another drill.
Link
Friday, May 5, 2017
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Alice Elizabeth Wilson (nee Slinger)
I guess I was in Grade 13 when the war broke out and as soon as I finished high school, I joined up. I thought that sounded like the best bet for me. I liked the idea of the naval service.
Well, I enlisted at HMCS York in Toronto, that was the closest one to where - I came from Guelph and that was the closest place. When I decided to go in the navy, I was sent to Saint-Hyacinthe in Quebec for my training in wireless. Well, it was very different. I found it was a very – the camaraderie was very good and also by deciding to take the wireless, I wanted to take something where I could have a course and have extensive training, really. You know, I could have joined as anything and I knew I had decided I wanted to take what would give me the most training.
Well, I went to Coverdale naval station outside of Moncton, New Brunswick. Well, that’s where I practiced my trade of listening for U-boats. Well, we intercepted communications in German U-boats and took bearings on their location and on their transmissions. Their messages only lasted about 30 seconds so you had to be quick to get them.
Oh, well there, well, we had what we called Operations where we worked to begin with and then we were sent out to shacks, they called them shacks. So nobody knew, nobody could see them. We were up high on a hill at Coverdale and then when we were sent out to these shacks to do our work, nobody could see what we were doing, we’d worked all night long. Well, we used to work, well, 12 hour shifts. Actually, our work was top secret, we couldn’t tell anybody what we did. I couldn’t tell anybody at home what I did. I wasn’t allowed to. And in fact, this friend in Guelph sent me a Christmas card and said – I thought she was being facetious that she said, “Don’t sink too many submarines.” So I quickly tore up her letters in case somebody found it because we weren’t to tell anybody what we did and of course, I hadn’t, not even my parents or my brothers and sisters.
Oh well, I was a wireless telegrapher and when the war with Germany was over, I stayed in and I took the – well, the Germans used Morse Code. And so I stayed in and the war with Japan was on so I stayed in for that. And the Japanese code was, we had to do it on typewriters because it was so long, the code, it was the Germans plus a few more characters. So actually, I was in New York on leave when the war with Germany ended and I went there and for two weeks’ holiday.
And we had our very dowdy uniforms, our black stockings and black Oxfords and the Americans had these beautiful all summery outfits, they had like cotton dresses and shoes with pumps and nylons stockings and so they were very much more fashionable than we were.
Well, I enlisted at HMCS York in Toronto, that was the closest one to where - I came from Guelph and that was the closest place. When I decided to go in the navy, I was sent to Saint-Hyacinthe in Quebec for my training in wireless. Well, it was very different. I found it was a very – the camaraderie was very good and also by deciding to take the wireless, I wanted to take something where I could have a course and have extensive training, really. You know, I could have joined as anything and I knew I had decided I wanted to take what would give me the most training.
Well, I went to Coverdale naval station outside of Moncton, New Brunswick. Well, that’s where I practiced my trade of listening for U-boats. Well, we intercepted communications in German U-boats and took bearings on their location and on their transmissions. Their messages only lasted about 30 seconds so you had to be quick to get them.
Oh, well there, well, we had what we called Operations where we worked to begin with and then we were sent out to shacks, they called them shacks. So nobody knew, nobody could see them. We were up high on a hill at Coverdale and then when we were sent out to these shacks to do our work, nobody could see what we were doing, we’d worked all night long. Well, we used to work, well, 12 hour shifts. Actually, our work was top secret, we couldn’t tell anybody what we did. I couldn’t tell anybody at home what I did. I wasn’t allowed to. And in fact, this friend in Guelph sent me a Christmas card and said – I thought she was being facetious that she said, “Don’t sink too many submarines.” So I quickly tore up her letters in case somebody found it because we weren’t to tell anybody what we did and of course, I hadn’t, not even my parents or my brothers and sisters.
Oh well, I was a wireless telegrapher and when the war with Germany was over, I stayed in and I took the – well, the Germans used Morse Code. And so I stayed in and the war with Japan was on so I stayed in for that. And the Japanese code was, we had to do it on typewriters because it was so long, the code, it was the Germans plus a few more characters. So actually, I was in New York on leave when the war with Germany ended and I went there and for two weeks’ holiday.
And we had our very dowdy uniforms, our black stockings and black Oxfords and the Americans had these beautiful all summery outfits, they had like cotton dresses and shoes with pumps and nylons stockings and so they were very much more fashionable than we were.
Tuesday, October 4, 2016
Theodorus Benedictus Kroon
Military Service:
Service Number:A/2102
Service Number:A/2102
Age:37
Force:ArmyUnit:
The Royal Canadian Corps of Signals
Division:1 Div. Sigs.
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