01-Overview -Aviators Garden
Prince Edward County is a crossroads of history. The first inhabitants were indigenous peoples who fished and hunted these lands for millennia. Today, there are an estimated 177 local significant archeological sites documenting their early presence. White settlement followed the end of the American Revolution in the 1780s when thousands of Loyalist refugees, people loyal to the British government during that war, were forced to flee into British North America – the country we now call Canada. Among these new settlers were the Mohawk people, displaced by the conflict from their homelands in New York State. They were granted lands now known as the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory. Treaties with the Mississauga people were made to secure land for Loyalist settlers. But treaties like the Gunshot Treaty signed in Carrying Place in September 1787, were plagued by language and cultural barriers that make them controversial to this day. Over the generations, Prince Edward County has become a prosperous agricultural and tourism area with a rich military history.
Camp Picton opened in April 1941, as one of over 230 air training sites in British Commonwealth countries to prepare for a looming war in Europe. This was a bombing and gunnery school where young pilots from the UK, US, New Zealand, Norway, Holland, Poland and France learned new skills to prepare them for the hazardous missions ahead. Every six weeks, 600 young flyers underwent intensive air training from Royal Air Force (RAF) instructors as part of a program known as the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.
Jacqui Burley is the former site manager of the property.
“Our country, along with the UK and Australia and New Zealand, formed what was called …. the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan…. That plan was put together so that aircrew that would be fighting in World War Two would be able to train in a safe environment and be prepared to go and fight the… air battles during World War Two.”
“…. And it became one of 12 bombing and gunnery schools. We were unique in that we were the only RAF bombing school in Canada.”
“…Our site was chosen because of our geographic location, and it’s very similar to what the trainees would be experiencing when they went to World War Two, given the … the English Channel.”
“The pilots were trained when they arrived at this site. They were trained at other …. sites that were specific for flight training. When they arrived here, it was … bombing and gunnery.”
Many of the instructors coming from the UK and other allied countries were bringing their families. It was a two- year posting and they didn’t want to leave their families overseas where the battles were occurring so they would bring their families along with them.”
Pilots in World War Two suffered high mortality rates. Nearly half died in battle. Even training could be dangerous. Across Canada, 856 pilots and instructors lost their lives during training. Poor weather, engine failures, and pilot error cost the lives of 11 airmen training at Camp Picton. Several are buried in a local cemetery.
When the war ended in 1945, the site was used as a storage and equipment maintenance centre for the Royal Canadian Air Force. In 1946, The Royal Canadian School of Artillery (Anti – Aircraft) moved to this 283 – hectare site providing training for anti-aircraft gunners, radar operators, and artillery instructors. In 1962, the First Battalion Canadian Guards, an infantry unit, settled into the camp, which they named Camp Picton. The Guards trained for peacekeeping missions in places like Cyprus. Charles Durant was a young Lieutenant trained at Camp Picton and sent to Cyprus.
CHARLES DURANT
“…what we were doing was trying to hold onto the peace that had been established by the Brits when basically there was a lot of fighting and a lot of murders going on between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots…
“We were there to make sure the control was not lost and there was no fighting while we were there. There were some iffy times when it could have started, but we were under strict orders that we were to fire only in self- defense. Never to basically be the first to start firing…”
Camp Picton closed in the late 1960s, and became a private business park. But today the site has a new life as a destination and event venue known as Base31.
02 Training School- Bldg 2
Part of the training for air crews at the camp during the Second World War involved learning navigational skills to locate enemy bombing targets. Much of this training took place in Building 2, the Training School, which no longer stands, but was once the centre of camp life. It was shaped in the trademark “H Hut” design with long corridors joined together to form the shape of the letter “H.”
“My name is Jacqui Burley and I was the property manager for the base from September 1999 until December 2021. “
“…that foundation was what the entire site was based on because that was the building that housed the school. And that consisted of essentially two H huts together – so four wings. And on the end was a three-storey building…the three storey building, we could never figure out what that structure, why it was built like that because it was so different from the rest of the architecture on site…and we were fortunate enough to have a veteran who came and he told us that…during World War Two, when they were doing navigational training, the second floor was essentially a map of Europe, and the third floor consisted of catwalks, and the trainees would be given a location, coordinates, and they would have to figure out where they were dropping their bomb. And their bomb was a little lead weight that they would drop from a plumb bob and they would be given three seconds to drop their plumb bob with those coordinates. So, that was their navigational simulation.”
Once a year soldiers at the camp endured a gruelling cross-country march called a “Ten Miler.” Retired soldier Grahem Meharg remembers these tough tests of fitness.
“ … you had to prove your fitness and it was composed of a 10 – mile run in full pack and run ten miles in …. under two hours, climb a ten-foot, twelve -foot wall…carry some of your own weight 100 yards and lie down on the rifle range and put three rounds in the target at 50 yards of …range.” “… You had to do that two days in a row. Most people could do it one day without really working at it… But then the next morning, they had the extra pains and the blisters. So, they really suffered pretty much doing the ten miles on the second day.”
A nearby structure, Building 17, served as a lecture hall where mission training and briefings took place. After the war, the Lecture Hall continued to be used for general military training and for mission briefings as Canada began peacekeeping operations in troubled regions of the world. These United Nations’ operations were challenging assignments that sent Canadian troops into unstable conflict zones. Charles Durant was a young soldier trained at Camp Picton for a mission in Cyprus.
INTERVIEW CHARLES DURANTN
“Well, I can’t say the training we had prior to going to Cyprus was detailed. Nobody in the battalion had been there, so we were dependent on people visiting who were members of the … intelligence corps who … gave us an overview of Cyprus and what was going on there.”
“…Our training basically did not prepare us to open a road which was what we did when we were there between two Greek Cypriot areas, which went through a Turkish area. “
“…So, no, we were not prepared for that. And the other thing we were not prepared for of course either was we didn’t know how to speak Greek and we didn’t know how to speak Turkish. Some of us learned a little bit about that when we were there, but for the most part we were kept separate from civilians.”
03 Ocers Barracks -Bldg 3
Soldiers at Base31 spent much of their off – duty time in their barracks. Days off were a luxury. Nights out on the town for dinner, drinks or dates at the local theatre were infrequent. They had to seek permission to leave the base, and were required to be well-dressed when they did. The strict dress code triggered the very first argument retired soldier Chris Wellwood had as a newly – married man.
INTERVIEW CHRIS WELLWOOD
“Soldiers could not leave Camp Picton without a shirt and tie…which meant you were identified as soon as you went into Picton because nobody wore jackets and ties and nobody from any other regiment had to wear a jacket and tie – just the Canadian Guards.
The first argument I had with my wife was we were going to a movie, and she didn’t want me to wear a jacket and tie, but I had to. She wanted me to look like, you know, a normal Canadian citizen (laugh).”
The soldiers’ quarters were distinctive “H- shaped” buildings set up for the different ranks – officers, sergeants and privates. Building 3 was the Officers’ Barracks. Jacqui Burley is the former site manager of the base.
JACQUI BURLEY
“…. building 3 … that was originally the officers’ barracks. It’s the largest H hut on site and we reference them as H huts because they were built in a capital “H” formation…. being the largest H Hut- it’s just under 7,000 square feet on each wing. And then in the middle was a lounge area, showers, bathrooms. This H hut was unique in that it had individual rooms…which provided the officers some privacy.”
Former soldier Chris Wellwood has fond memories of the building.
INTERVIEW CHRIS WELLWOOD
“I lived in an H Hut and the room is still there. And then I moved to a two-room suite which was, I think, the only one in the H Hut with an outside entrance… It was a room and we all had our own sink. The facilities were down in the centre of the H and at the door to the furnace room, we put up a metal pipe so we could all do chin ups as we went by. We had a television down there at the one end…and the commanding officer had a CO’s suite at the other side of the H, so that if there were guests coming, they would live in considerably more comfort than we did. There were about 25 of us I think living in at the time.”
As an officer, Wellwood had some extra perks to his job. He had a “batman” – another soldier assigned to look after everyday chores. “A batman was… basically a servant soldier… “…. So the batman washed our car. They did our laundry. They made our bed. They changed our sheets…. They were servers, waiters in the mess. So, it was a great privilege to have a batman.”
For most young soldiers – many of them still in their teens – living in the H Huts was a comfortable, and enjoyable experience. They played cards, swapped stories, read, and studied for never-ending training exams. For meals, they walked next door to their mess hall.
INTERVIEW VINCE MARTIN
“My name is Vince Martin. I had the privilege of being here ….. from 1964 until 1968 when the camp closed.”
“…living in an H Hut was great. We didn’t mind that at all…. Again, it was our world as the Officers’ H hut was right next door to the mess…. Very convenient. We loved it…. For us we had I think about 100 feet to walk to get into the mess. So, it’s really, really attached to us. So, living in these H Huts was fantastic and we were young, single. We had no expectations of any luxury at all to that extent.”
04 Ocers Mess- Bldg4
Building 4 – the Officer’s Mess – no longer stands. It is another structure lost to a fire in the 1970s with its ruins demolished a decade later. Designed in the style of an English pub with a large fireplace, dining room, and dance floor, it was designed as a welcoming place for English fliers a long way from home. After the war ended, messes remained a key centre of social activity for base life among both senior and junior ranks. Grahem Meharg was a young soldier in the First Battalion Canadian Guards at the camp in the 1960s.
INTERVIEW GRAHEM MEHARG
“That was the centre of life…. On a Friday night, the officers would literally dine in and have dinner there. We’d have more formal ones every once in a while, mess dinners, where you’d put on the red tunics and had a formal dinner with music and the various courses, and many dances and …birthday balls…. The “who’s who” of Picton were associate members of not just the officers’ mess, the Sergeants’ mess and the Corporal’s lounge as well.”
The weekend dinners and dances allowed soldiers and civilians to mix. Some soldiers met their wives through first dates at mess events.
INTERVIEW ELAYNE MEHARG
“My name is Elayne Meharg, and I am the wife of retired Lt. Colonel Grahem Meharg, who served here in …. the 1960s.”
INTERVIEW ELAYNE MEHARG
“….my father had sold Grahem a car that had been my car that I was driving. I was not aware that the car was up for sale. I came home one day and my father and Grahem were celebrating the sale of the car. And I was not impressed….. and there was going to be a celebration dance celebrating the return of the men who had just returned from Cyprus. And Grahem didn’t have a date at the time, and my
father told him I was available to go. Much to my surprise, I didn’t realize I was available to go… And he appeared at the door to go to the dance dressed in his red serge, and he had the Irish accent. And I’m afraid my heart went tilt. And …that was the beginning …we were married in 1966.” “…the formal mess dinners were a treat. And it was an opportunity to get dressed up like we don’t get dressed up anymore. And it was also an opportunity for the chefs of the base to show their expertise because they do train very rigidly in all aspects of creating menus and they competed…to achieve a certain level of respect in their field when we would go to some of the formal dinners. They would take that opportunity to lay out a buffet with beautiful displays of creations in food and ice. So, it was always something to look forward to.”
Sergeants Mess Hall-Bldg 7
Social life for soldiers revolved around the individual mess halls for the ranks. Structures like Building 7 – the Sergeant’s Mess – were places where soldiers gathered for meals, parties, and special celebrations.
INTERVIEW JACQUI BURLEY
“Hi. My name is Jacqui Burley and I was the property manager from September 1999 until December 2021.”
“The Sergeant’s Mess …. was a building that consisted of a large kitchen space, a banquet hall, a bar area, and a games room, and the dartboard cabinets were still on the walls and there was a little hatch from the bar where …the bartender would slip a drink through to the games room when requested…”
Linda McBain grew up in the Sergeant’s Mess when her soldier Dad managed the place. She and her siblings drank cokes they could never have at home – as money was always tight in their family of six kids.
INTERVIEW LINDA MCBAIN
“…He was not a great soldier…He apparently was a sergeant at one point, but his mouth used to get him into trouble a lot. So, he worked in the sergeant’s mess when he first moved here, but then he got demoted to the corporal’s mess after he became a bombardier, which was fine because that’s where the Canadian Guards hung out, and that was the group he liked to be with the young guys that were, you know, party goers…and he pretty much spoke his mind – which as you know in the army is not conducive to having a great career.”
Linda’s father served overseas during the war, but like many veterans, he never spoke of his experiences.
“I think it was hard for them. And I don’t think men of that generation would have spoken about their feelings as much as we do now ….he didn’t talk about it. I think he just put it behind him at that
point…He went. He did his duty. …he got his paycheck. He met the love of his life, and that was it. And he and my mother loved each other to death – just loved each other. She never remarried. She was 52 when he passed away, never met another man, would never even think about it. In her mind, she was still married. That was it.”
Outside of work, her father, Bombardier William Bowser, was a loving parent who enjoyed the outdoors and took on other jobs to support his large family.
“…They always had to augment pay. My father worked at the cement factory at nights. Sometimes …. picking tomatoes during the summer. Picton used to be a big tomato growing area…Anything he could do to augment the salary. But we didn’t know the difference because…everybody’s dad did the same thing.” “All the mothers and dads would sit outside on the back step and have a little drink and watch the kids. Everybody was safe. It was fairly insular I think…thinking back on it now. But we didn’t know any different so I enjoyed every moment of it.”
08 Sergeants Barracks -Bldg 8
Like bases built across the country during the war years, Camp Picton was constructed to provide separate accommodation and meals to the different ranks of soldiers. Barracks and messes helped maintain this hierarchy of officers, sergeants, warrant officers, and privates. The higher the rank, the greater the responsibilities…and the perks.
Building 8 was the Sergeant’s barracks. It’s another building that has been lost to Time and had to be demolished.
Jacqui Burley is the former property manager of the site.
INTERVIEW JACQUI BURLEY
“…The Sergeant’s barracks was a smaller version of the officer’s barracks and did have individual rooms as well, which allowed some privacy for the sergeants. Outside of the Sergeant’s building you’ll see some pipes standing up, and that’s all that remains of the original heating system. The entire site was heated by a coal steam boiler, which was on the officer’s end of the site and had carried steam from barracks building to barracks building all the way to the end.”
A single pipe carrying steam connected all the barracks. The “end” of the pipe was at the private’s barracks. It could get cold in the winter months, a new experience for English airmen unused to the Canadian climate.
“So, yes, I think it was much better to be an officer than a private at the far end in January, February, yes…..And if you do spend any time on site if you are in the officers’ area and the sergeant’s area, you are somewhat segregated from the rest of the site, somewhat removed. You can look down over the town, you can put the site behind you, and just have some quiet time in a little park area.” Buildings like the Sergeant’s Mess remain full of memories for the families who visit to trace the wartime history of their parents. Jacqui Burley recalls a family from Britain who visited to learn more about their father’s wartime service.
INTERVIEW JACQUI BURLEY
“… There was one couple Brian and Jean, and Brian’s Dad trained on site during WW2. It’s interesting because many of the men and women who fought in WW2, when it was finished, they packed away their little black box and stuck it off in the attic and never discussed their experiences…so then what happened was that they passed off, their spouses died, and families were left cleaning up Mom and Dad’s house and would come across Dad’s black box. So that’s what happened with Brian and Jean, and Brian had no idea that his Dad had even been to Canada. And so, they planned a trip over to find out some information about their Dad and he brought the photo album that he had found in the black box. And they came to the County for a week….and we took them to all the places where the photos had been photographed in the County… We also arranged for one of the local pilots to take Brian up and do the flight path that his father would have done.”
20 Drill Hall -Bldg 20
Now known as The Drill Hall, this spacious building was originally a gymnasium, and traces of that history remain painted on the floor.
“Building 20 was the gymnasium/drill hall. And it consists of 22,000 square feet plus the lean to which is over 3,000 square feet where the canteen, the weight room, the bathrooms and showers were located.”
INTERVIEW JACQUI BURLEY
“…. The 22,000 square foot space is a hardwood flooring and you’ll still see the outlines of badminton courts and basketball courts and volleyball courts. They called it the Drill Hall because they would practice their drills …and if you opened up the two end doors on the drill hall, it would lead out into the parade square and they would do their exterior drill…In the 1950s, there were Olympic boxers that trained there through the Army so there were boxing rings as well.”
The Drill Hall served as an assembly area for soldiers to practice drills like marching on the adjoining parade grounds. Marching has a long military tradition dating back to the Romans who found it an efficient way to move troops. Retired soldier Vince Martin spent many hours on the parade ground at the camp.
INTERVIEW VINCE MARTIN
“…. Drill became an old – time way of bringing about cohesiveness of a group…. as part of the discipline, part of the bedrock belief that a good unit looks like a good unit because they can come together… And that connotes other skills. But if they can’t march, if they can’t do it properly in step to the music, then holy heavens “Who are they?” So that whole ethos built into the army.”
INTERVIEW LINDA CLARE
At Christmas, the hall was used for family holiday celebrations. Linda Clare remembers one Christmas when her soldier Dad played Santa so convincingly that she didn’t recognize him – even when sitting on his lap.
“…. We were all sitting at this table and my Dad was dressed in his uniform and he sat down with us for a little while and he said …. “Well, I’ve got to go to work now. And Santa’s come out “Ho, Ho, Ho” and it was my turn to go up to see Santa….. and there was a man up in the back and he was reaching over to get a present. He stopped because I was studying Santa. Santa had on these white gloves, and I was looking at his hands. And then I looked at his face. And the man stood very still. He was quiet. He looked like he was holding his breath. And all of a sudden Santa says “Have you got a kiss for Santa?” And I said, “Un – Un.” And the guy goes “whew!” like that. And so yeah, we used to have some good times.”
In preparation for Canada’s 100th birthday in 1967, units from across the country practiced at Camp Picton for a military tattoo – a display of precision drills. Retired soldier Vince Martin was at the camp during these months of intense training.
INTERVIEW VINCE MARTIN
“…. When it came to 1967, the Army seized on that as the thing the Army would do as part of our efforts towards celebrating Canada’s Centennial….”
“But all of a sudden someone comes down from Ottawa and this major and small group of people and they gave us a little briefing that we were going to put on a tattoo here. Yeah, what’s that?” “…. And we have Air Force people come in and we have Navy people come in who do the Navy gun drill. Very dangerous thing, by the way, but they become crackerjack at it.”
“The mess is operating 24 hours a day. At the end of it, you know, day and night, they’re working…. So, we put together in a couple of months a great performance team.”
“…. You go to every little town, hockey rink or God knows what, which is all been pre – reconnoitered and arrangements made…”
“You’ve got to have a movement plan intensely detailed. These are movement plans with everything in them food rations, quarters…. That was an amazing, amazing event.”
25 Gas mask Training Facility-Bldg 25
In the First World War, Canadian troops suffered staggering losses when they were gassed by enemy troops. Training at Camp Picton meant preparing soldiers for potential gas attacks during the Second World War. That training happened in Building 25.
Jacqui Burley is the former property manager for the camp.
INTERVIEW Jacqui Burley
“…It is…. significant in that it was used for training for the trainees within gas scenarios. So, it consists of one room and within that there are benches along three of the walls. And then there’s an overhang exterior and between the exterior and that room… there’s a bank of windows, so the instructor would stand under the overhang and the trainees would go into the room with all of their apparel and tear gas would be released in that room, and the instructor would watch the trainees to ensure that their actions were appropriate under that type of scenario, in preparation for going into World War Two.”
Retired Lt. Colonel Grahem Meharg experienced the gas training in the building supervised by Non-Commissioned Officers, or NCOs. It was an unforgettable experience that left soldiers teary-eyed and gasping for air.“…. the routine would be you would go in with your gas mask on. There was a little stove in the middle in which they threw capsules which produced tear gas. And you would go in, …walk around…. Then the NCO in charge would say, “Remove your gas mask “… Everybody tried to hold their breath and they’d make you do a couple of calisthenics and things. So, you had to breathe in and get the idea that if you were ever gassed, you were not going to be effective. You’d be debilitated pretty quickly with tears, and coughing and hacking.”
Some soldiers used their masks to store chocolate bars and cigarettes. It slowed their ability to place the masks on during training. By the time they emptied them, it was simply too late. “… it was to get used to the idea that gas is a weapon. …. If once you said “gas” and they’d open these things, out would come all their goodies and by the time they got the gas mask on, it was too late”
“… We only had to do that once and they didn’t do it again.”
26 Military Police Oce-Bldg 26
The military police office and guardhouse is beside the main entrance to the base. Access to the camp by soldiers and visitors was restricted especially during the war years when there were heightened fears of espionage from enemy spies. But most days, military police dealt with more routine matters. Their office included jail cells to lock up soldiers who violated camp rules.
INTERVIEW JACQUI BURLEY
“There were 8 jail cells and most veterans who came to visit would often say “Are the cells still here?” And I’d say “yes” and they would chuckle to themselves because…when they were on leave, they would often go down the hill and have a few libations, and then stumble back up the hill. And if …. they may have had drank a little too much, they were thrown into the cells to dry out and have a little disciplinary action because they should have been…much more proper within the community and set a better, respectful example.”
One of the regular tasks for young officers like Charles Durant were monthly overnight shifts inspecting security around the camp and checking on soldiers spending time in the base jail.
INTERVIEW CHARLES DURANT
“One of the things I had to do immediately on being posted here was to learn how to be a picket officer…. One of our responsibilities was in the evening, we were to dress in our dress blues uniform, put on a sword, … and check the picket – the guardsmen who were going to be on picket that night…the job of the picket was to make sure the whole area was being looked at and especially in the case of possible fire breaking out…. After I had checked the picket, I then entered this building. Soldiers, how were they being treated? What was their health like? So, because of that… this was one of the first buildings that I became acquainted with.”
Joanne Fralick is the author of a book on the camp.
“…They didn’t get a lot of time off. They worked 13, 14 days straight…so when they went into town to blow off steam, they blew off steam. There were several establishments in town that served alcohol at the time and dance halls. There were lots of dust ups…The military police and the local police, they helped each other out depending on if a person involved in an incident was from the base, the MPs would take care of them. If the local police were out on a call and something they couldn’t get to right away, the MPs would help them out too….”
Sometimes there were fights between soldiers and locals.
“They were jealous…. There were several incidents of the local farm boys having words with some of the fly boys because the girls were more interested in them with their fancy uniforms and their ability to dance, and their very romantic foreign accents, English accents taking the girls away from them. But then they said when they went back over….to England to fight, they got the same thing thrown at them from the Americans taking their girls away from them because they were the exotic ones then and the Englishmen were the locals.
31 Dentists Oce- Bldg 31
This small building did double duty.
It was the base dental office – yet another of the services that made the camp a self-sufficient, small town able to meet all the needs of its soldier residents. But the building was also divided to make living space for the families of instructors brought from overseas for their two-year postings.
INTERVIEW JACQUI BURLEY
“Building 31, which is just over 600 square feet …and that was the dentist’s office which consisted of two rooms during WW2. We were fortunate enough to hear from a little boy who later became an RCMP officer, and upon his retirement, flew back from Alberta to visit the site. And he was telling us that his father was an instructor during the war and his family lived in the back smaller room of the dentist’s office. And he said it was a great place because just past the dentist’s office was the Sergeant’s Mess and the dental office faced the kitchen back door. And he and his buddies would go and knock on the back door, and the cook would come and set out a big tub of ice cream. And he said he had a lot of great memories, but a lot of memories of belly aches.”
42 Hostess House/Fire Chief House-Bldg 42
Every six weeks, 600 young airmen – many still teenagers- arrived at Bombing and Gunnery School 31 for training during the Second World War. They were a long way from home, lonely, and sometimes feeling guilty knowing their families were under constant bombing attacks in England. Building 42 was the house of the base hostess. Her job was to plan social events to maintain morale among young men facing imminent danger – teas, dinners, dances and sports activities. It was a way to introduce soldiers to civilians – including local, single women. There were about 100 marriages as a result.
INTERVIEW Jacqui Burley
“… this hostess became their den mother… She was kind of the counselor on base. So not only was she establishing relationships between the base and the community, she put herself out there for all of those trainees that pass through here. And every six, eight weeks another 600 in, 600 out.” “So, her role was basically to be the median between the base and our community to be able to establish a relationship between the base and our community, to set up social functions and to organize opportunities for that. Mainly the instructors, but also in some scenarios, the trainees, to go into our community, into homes of our community, to experience home – cooked meals, to just take a breath of fresh air from the intense training and the pressures that these boys were under.” “… 51% of all aircrew were trained on Canadian soil… For every 100 individuals trained, 46% of them were killed, eight of them became P.O.W.s, six of them were seriously injured and 40 of them returned safely home.”
“And…. if you were one of those 40 returned, you were not safely home. You were home, but you carried a lot on those shoulders. And we’re talking 18 to 25 year – old men for the most part.”
After the war, the hostess house became the home of the base fire chief. Tim Walsh lived in the building in the 1950s and ‘60s when his dad was head of the fire department.
Tim Walsh
“The building 42 was the Fire Chief’s residence on the base. And I spent all from birth to 12 years old in that house…. It’s a very tiny house…. But to me, it was it seemed big. It seemed huge. There was enough room for all of us…”
“And it sort of had a …. great size living room with a big brick fireplace, hardwood floors and very nice, very nice little house.”
There were some fires on the base. A fire one Christmas destroyed a barracks and claimed the lives of several soldiers. Artillery practice at the nearby Point Petre military site could sometimes start grass fires.
Tim Walsh
“…. the Canadian Army put out a contract for a specialized vehicle for fighting range fires on artillery ranges…. I think there was only maybe four or six of them built all together. And we called it the range vehicle. And it had nozzles underneath that you could drive right over the fire and it was high up, high clearance, ground clearance.”
“My Dad loved his job. He was a career firefighter…
“…and after activities in the base about 4 o’clock in the afternoon when things would die down and Dad would come home from work, and we’d have dinner, and then we’d go for walks and he’d take me …. walking through the camp.”
“And there was a lot of aircraft stored here after the war. There’s a lot of … B-25 Mitchell’s and Mustangs that all stored in the hangars. And so, we’d walk around …. looking over all the aircraft, and there was a lot of German artillery that was war prizes that were brought back to Canada, and they were stored out on the tarmac as well.”
15 Hospital/Nurses Quarters-Bldg 15 (Bldg49/50)
The hospital was one of the busiest buildings on the base attending to the medical needs of hundreds of soldiers. They were treated by an all – male staff as there were no female nurses in the early years of the camp. They didn’t arrive until 1946 when a new hospital and nurses’ residence was built across from the main gate. Training accidents, common colds, annual vaccination programs, drunken driving incidents, and occasional outbreaks of venereal disease kept the small, medical staff busy.
Retired soldier Vince Martin served at Camp Picton from 1964 – 1968.
INTERVIEW VINCE MARTIN
“ ….We drank too much. But then again in the early 1960s, our drinking culture…was similar to what Great Britain would be. Everyone goes to the pub. Drinking is like having a milkshake. A few people get drunk…a few people can’t handle their alcohol was the attitude.”
Some soldiers didn’t need booze to get into trouble. They were just characters who were always up to something. One of Martin’s soldiers carried a large knife he used to skin rabbits during exercises.
INTERVIEW VINCE MARTIN
“…this guy has a knife. …but he fell on his knife because it’s in his pocket and he jabbed himself in the stomach.. A significant wound. But he doesn’t report it because he was afraid of what was going to happen. So, he went around until he almost passed out…. Anyone else in the world would have said “Oh God, I cut myself with my own knife.”
“…Even those who were all in, who were good soldiers, who did their job, who can be relied upon, we had some who were pretty rough around the edges shall we say …so that their normal behaviour was at time outrageous, or it would just make you shake your head to look at.
Sometimes, mistakes were made at much levels. Retired Lt. Colonel Grahem Meharg remembers a vaccination program in the 1960s that incapacitated an entire unit on standby for a UN mission overseas.
“….. they had a new machine and instead of getting a needle, they gave you flu shots and things with a high- pressure gun. And they let a whole battalion in lined up with a couple of tables and we all rolled up our sleeves, walked down the middle and got shots on both sides. Well, within 24 hours, the UN Standby Battalion -us- was about 40% in bed sick from those shots, and we had to report that…. the battalion is not fit to be deployed. That was the sickest I ever remember feeling in my in my life. We had about six shots all combined into one. It was an experiment that didn’t get repeated(laugh).”
51 Parachute- Bldg 51&24
Buildings number 51 and 24 are unlike any of the other buildings onsite at Base31. These tall, narrow structures were used to dry parachutes after air training jumps.
Jacqui Burley is the former property manager of the camp.
“You will see two buildings that are…. exactly the same. And those two buildings consist of three bays that go from floor to ceiling, and they’re a double story building…. Those were used for drying parachutes. So, there were vents on either side of these buildings and they would winch the parachutes up and dry the parachutes, and then bring them down and fold them up and prepare them for the next flight.”
Canada’s fledgling air force played a decisive role in the Second World War participating in nightly bombing raids over Germany, patrols off the coasts of Canada and England searching for U-boat wolf packs attacking allied troop and supply ships, and flying paratroopers deep into enemy lines. These were critical contributions to the war effort that saved countless civilian lives. Jacqui Burley recalls the story of one man from Holland who visited the site as a pilgrimage to thank Canadian soldiers for saving his family during the war.
Jacqui Burley
“…. I was sitting in my office and this van pulls up outside of my office and I look out and the man slumps over the steering wheel and I thought, “Oh my God, he’s had a heart attack.” “So, I go running out and he’s just sobbing uncontrollably. So, once he composed himself, he said, “I’m sorry.” And he proceeded to tell me his story because when he was six years old, he and his mother and his siblings were hiding under their kitchen table. Dad was a P.O.W. and their house was the battlefront.”
And he said, “Fortunately, Canadian paratroopers landed in the backyard and were able to extricate them.” And he said, “If it wasn’t for you as Canadians, I wouldn’t be here to tell my story.” And I think at that moment, it really hit just how important this was.”
These unique buildings are just two of the nearly 50 structures on this former military site – all designed to serve a specific purpose in support of the war effort. All of them have their stories to tell.