The the 50Th Anniversary of the Canadian Armed Forces Logistics
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The The 50th Anniversary of the Canadian Armed Forces Logistics Branch “In the Shadows of the Limelight” The tales, anecdotes, salty dips and rumoured to be true stories from those who served Edition 1 January 18, 2019 Edited by LCol Mike Hendrigan, CD (Retired) Dedication n putting this collection of stories together, I often wondered if a dedication was required, and it was, how would I word it? I pondered the subject for way too long and as the weeks I turned into months, I thought about possible options and formats. In my research into what I thought would be an easy matter, I found the following information on dedications: A dedication could be addressed to a parent, a sibling or other family member, a friend a supervisor or even a mascot. Ok, this was a start. A dedication could be formal or informal, and provide a reason. There is no one way to write a dedication. Darn, back to square one. So with no right answer, no fixed format and no further ahead, I came up with a couple dedications that seemed appropriate. If you want to see what I came up with, keep reading. Otherwise, skip this part and flip a few pages forward to the first “Log Tale”. On my first attempt, I came up with this: This book is dedicated to the thousands of serving logisticians who will be celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Canadian Armed Forces Logistics Branch on 1 February 2018. That seemed a little too vanilla and bland, so I came up with a second version: To all logisticians, past and present, who supported CAF operations, missions and exercises with honour. To you, this book is dedicated. That was pretty good and I thought I was on the right track, but in the end, I decided on a different approach. Taken from the spirit of a humorous and witty retirement message (Major Dan McNeil (Log-Land) who retired on 31 July 2016), I picked this dedication: This book is dedicated to the soldiers, SNCOs & WOs and Officers that ever served in the Logistics Branch. The good ones know who they are. i Table of Contents Dedication ........................................................................................................................................ i Introduction .................................................................................................................................... iii Contributors ................................................................................................................................... iv List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. v Call for Submissions ....................................................................................................................... 6 Chapter 1 – Pre 1968....................................................................................................................... 8 Chapter 2 – 1968 and Integration.................................................................................................. 12 Chapter 3 – The 1970s .................................................................................................................. 15 Chapter 4 – The 1980s .................................................................................................................. 15 Chapter 5 – The 1990s .................................................................................................................. 28 Chapter 6 – The 2000s .................................................................................................................. 43 Chapter 7 – The 2010s .................................................................................................................. 54 Chapter 8 – 2018 and the Year of the Branch’s 50th Birthday ...................................................... 55 Chapter 9 – The Timeless Entries ................................................................................................. 60 Chapter 10 – Back to Our Roots: Royal Canadian Army Service Corps March Past ................. 63 Chapter 11 – A Special Submission: A Sailor in Sudan .............................................................. 65 Chapter 12 – A Historic Moment.................................................................................................. 73 Chapter 13 – Flag Dispatches ....................................................................................................... 78 Chapter 14 – Remembering a Friend ............................................................................................ 96 Glossary ........................................................................................................................................ 99 ii Introduction ello, my name is Mike Hendrigan. In 1985 I joined the Canadian Armed Forces to begin a career in the military, with the intent to follow my father’s footsteps. My dad had been H in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in the 1950s as an instructor on the North American T-6 (commonly known as the Harvard). When I was a kid, our time as a family was filled with stories of my dad’s adventures in the military, and then later as a bush pilot in northern Canada and finally as a commercial pilot with Wardair. Over those years, I gained an appreciation of what made a good story – how it was told, what happened, if it was exaggerated or not (the more the better) and whether or not it made me laugh, cringe or shake my head. Anyways, I always admired a good story, and more so the good story tellers. Over 30 years later, I found myself posted to the Canadian Materiel Support Group (CMSG). There, I was advised that the 50th Anniversary of the Logistics Branch was fast approaching and future celebratory events were being planned. I started thinking about the thousands of logisticians who had served in the Logistics Branch over the decades, and of all the stories they had to tell. Figure 1 - A Harvard in Claresholm, AB More importantly though, I thought of the stories, tales and adventures that would never be told, and I thought that was a shame. So when then Col Tattersall started up a committee in Ottawa to plan Log 50th events, I volunteered to produce a “Log Tales” book that would be a collection of humorous moments, “salty dips” as the Navy would say and anecdotes from the members of the Branch – both past and present. My offer to put the book together was accepted. Initially, all I had was a concept. I thought that I would tell the Logistics Branch, different chains of command, the Canadian Forces Logistics Association, the Legion Magazine and my friends what I was doing, and I would then let the stories rush in. The stories did flow in periodically through email over a two year period, and my approach was to read the story, conduct minor edits on it so that minor typographical errors were removed and making sure the message was clear. I returned edited submissions back to the authors to confirm they agreed with my changes, and they all did. That said though, if there are any errors or omissions in this book, the errors will rest solely with me. Well that’s it. There are twenty six days remaining in 2018, and it’s time to wrap up my contribution to the “Log 50th Committee” and finalize this project. I hope you enjoy the stories as much as I did. LCol Mike Hendrigan (Retired) Nairobi, Kenya 5 December 2018 iii Contributors In order of receipt, the following forty-one people contributed stories and submissions to this book. Thanks to all for taking the time and effort to capture these colorful moments in our history. Maj Ryan Matthies PO1 Robert Bates Maj Jayson Geroux Capt Joe Reid LCol John Stuart Requested to be Anonymous Maj James Ellwood Maj Dan McNeil Lt (N) Mario Rivard Mr Gerry Cann LCdr Rick Guitar Maj Derrek Williamson Maj Douglas Thorlakson CWO Al McGee Maj Doug O’Neill LCol Douglas Martin Maj Michel Dagenais MCpl Annie-Claude Venne LCol Mike Hendrigan LCdr Norm Normand MCpl William Moeller Maj W.E. (Gary) Campbell Maj John Andruszka LCol Dave Ferguson Capt G.L. Rivera LCol Rick Palfrey Maj Gord Jenkins LCol Scott Baker LCdr Hal Pottle Capt Simon Litalien Maj Keith Inches Col Carla Harding Mrs Tracey Trowsdale-Pollitt Capt Cass White Col Ian Nicholls Maj John Page LCol Ken Mills LCol Bob Baxter Capt (N) George Forward CWO Paul Flowers Capt Catherine Smits Note that the following reference materials were provided by my friends and colleagues for formatting purposes, guidance and inspiration. Thanks to Col Ian Nicholls and LCdr Rick Guitar for their help. The materials were: “Salty Dips”, Volumes 1-9, Canadian Navy 1910-2010, Naval Officers Association of Canada – Ottawa Branch “Rendezvous 81”, DND Canada 1981 “War Stories, Anecdotes and Lies” by Major Bill Leavey, CD, The RCR, June, 1993 iv List of Figures Figure 1 - A Harvard in Claresholm, AB ....................................................................................... iii Figure 2 - The Original Call for Submissions ................................................................................. 6 Figure 3 - Demande de soumissions écrites .................................................................................... 7 Figure 4 - Recruiting Poster ............................................................................................................ 9 Figure 5 - Parade Square at Camp Borden - 1958 ........................................................................ 11 Figure 6 - Horse Transportation Driver .......................................................................................