PUBLIC AND PRIVATE CUSTOMS IN THE MILITARY: A CASE STUDY OF THE OBSERVANCE OF REMEMBRANCE DAY BY 56 FIELD ENGINEER SQUADRON, ST. JOHN'S, NEWFOUNDLAND by © Lisa Machin A thesis submitted to the School of Graduate Studies In partial fulfilment of the Requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of Folklore Memorial University ofNewfoundland October 2006 St. John's Newfoundland Library and Bibliotheque et 1+1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de !'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-30481-5 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-30481-5 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a Ia Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par !'Internet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve Ia propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni Ia these ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a Ia loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur Ia protection de Ia vie privee, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ant ete enleves de cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans Ia pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. ••• Canada TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract v Dedication vi Acknowledgements vm List of Photos XI List of Maps xvi List of Illustrations xvn List of Abbreviations xvm Chapter 1. Introduction 1 1.1 The Military: Occupational Folklore and Identity 1 1.2 The 56 Field Engineer Squadron 13 1.3 Research Methods 23 1.4 Approaches 27 Chapter 2 The Study of Military Customs and Traditions: An Overview 31 2.1 Early Studies of Military Traditions 31 11 2.2 Recent Studies of Military Traditions 40 Chapter 3 The Public Face of Remembrance Day 73 3.1 Plans and Preparations for the Public Celebrations 74 3.2 The Public Celebrations on Remembrance Day 1992 80 3.3 Media Coverage of the Public Celebrations 89 3.4 The History of the Public Celebrations 90 Chapter 4 The Private Face of Remembrance Day 149 4.1 Plans and Preparations for "Making the Rounds" 150 4.2 Plans and Preparations for "Stealing the Beaver" 158 4.3 The Private Celebrations on November 11, 1992 170 4.4 Media Coverage of the Private Celebrations 177 4.5 The History of"Making the Rounds" 181 4.6 The History of"Stealing the Beaver" 186 Chapter 5 Analyses and Interpretations 220 5.1 The Public Celebrations 221 5.1.1 The Legion Parade and Ceremonies 222 iii 5.1.2 The Gun Salute 227 5.2 The Private Celebrations 233 5.2.1 "Making the Rounds" 234 5 .2.2 "Stealing the Beaver" 237 Chapter 6 Conclusion and Postscript 248 Bibliography 253 Appendix A Remembrance Day Instructions 278 Appendix B Canadian Forces Reserve Pay Scale 280 Appendix C Glossary 283 Appendix D Texts of Recitations 291 Appendix E Interviews for this Thesis 293 Appendix F Additional Customs 295 lV ABSTRACT The military is an occupation with its own culture and identity, of which only a small part is visible to the public. The focus of this thesis is the November 11th Remembrance Day celebrations of 56 Field Engineer Squadron (FES) in St. John's, Newfoundland as a cultural performance that has both public and private aspects. This thesis will show that both the public and the private Remembrance Day celebrations of 56 FES are culturally appropriate and equally important to their observance of this day, that these performances communicate different aspects of the group's occupational identity to both members and non-members, and that such customs serve to integrate unit members by differentiating them from non-members, be they civilian or other military units or branches. v DEDICATION On June 20, I 988, there wa.'!> an accidental explosion durin& a traming exercise al Sit'"' Range. CFB Chilliwack 10 wtuch my (d>en) boyfriend 21.1 Mole Machin and fellow CME officer<"''"" ponocop.~hng. Sox of the officer< doed and other< injured. oncludmg nt) husband and hh fneod 21.1 Sean Ryan, • fellov. ofr10er from 56 FES. A mcmotial to commcmorme the e"·cnt "'~pl aced at CFB Chill•"'acl, Bnush Columbia.. Photo 0 .1 \l<morlal ol CFB CbiUi,.oek IJan. I, 1993). A~ a suf\'l\·or. my hu,band came!> the memone.s of chc...e officers. "•th him, and a ~mall pan of him never came b.&ek from the SJesse Range. I can ne~ocr hope to pul into vi words the strength of the bond felt by the many individuals who go through experiences like this. This case study attempts to show the importance of these bonds, and some of the ways they are expressed to members and to the public. War memorials are tangible ways to remind us of those who sacrificed with their physical lives, but fail to acknowledge the emotional sacrifices made by our members in so many facets of military life, training, or activities such as peacekeeping. I dedicate this thesis to my husband, and all members of the Canadian Forces who have died or been injured in any way in training or active service of Canada. Vll ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge the many people who have aided me on my academic journey and the completion of this thesis. I must acknowledge the Institute of Social and Economic Research who recognized the importance of my work and gave me a grant in 1992 for the majority of the research expenditures in this project. The greatest thanks go to the members, past and present, of 56 Field Engineer Squadron in St. John's, Newfoundland for trusting me with their culture and allowing me to study them for the past fifteen years. Were it not for them and their esprit de corps, I would not be writing this particular study. Thank you also to all those members, and former members, of the Canadian Forces who granted me interviews. Also, to anyone who happened to be caught in the lenses of my camera, thank you for not complaining. I would also like to thank the CME museum staff who assisted me in January and April of 1993, retired curators Bud and Peggy Smith, Warrant Officer Don Thomas and archivist Debbie Towell. Thanks also to former Base Commander of CFB Chilliwack, and long-time family friends, Colonel Ywe Looper and wife Barbara for their help with accommodations in January of 1993. I must also acknowledge Dr. Paul Smith, my thesis supervisor at Memorial University, whose own enthusiastic fieldwork has inspired my own research. His continued support, both the moral kind and the kind involving large stacks of V111 photocopied paper and loans from his enormous library, has helped me to stay the course. I would also like to say I am especially grateful that he did not even blink when I told him my research would involve the attempts by military personnel to steal a beaver, and I am certain there are many who doubt the validity of such a topic. I would like to thank numerous friends and colleagues: Keith Coles for his assistance in recording the gun salute on Remembrance Day, 1992; Delf Hohmann, for allowing me to film and photograph from the windows and roof of his apartment located next to the National War Memorial on Remembrance Day 1992; Michelle O'Connell for her assistance with editing for grammatical errors; Jennifer Hollett for being a sounding board for my ideas in the very beginning, and my frustrations throughout my lengthy graduate career, as well as helping me to locate a number of books and journals for my literary review, when time was of the essence. There are so many individuals in the Department of Folklore at Memorial University who have given me support, but a few I must mention in particular: Dr. Philip Hiscock, for his assistance with editing the final draft of this thesis and who allowed me to use his personal transcription machine, for which I am eternally grateful; Dr. Gerald Thomas, whose introductory course in Folklore inspired me to do twenty more; Dr. Martin Lovelace, current Head of Department, for his support and guidance through my graduate program; Sharon Cochrane and Cindy Turpin, the secretarial staff, who have ix been there to help with all sorts of things too numerous to list. I must thank the staff of the St. John's City Archives who aided me in my search for some very elusive older maps. Thank you to the staff of the Digital Media Centre of Memorial University ofNewfoundland Queen Elizabeth II Library who painstakingly taught me how to use Adobe Photoshop, especially Mike Rowe who, I am convinced, is a wizard; without his help my maps would not be so very useful.