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2003 Summerside Reunion Follow-Up | Transcripts
People interviewed at the RCAF/ CFB Summerside Reunion 2003
Chester Mellish Murray- Summerside area youth at the time RCAF Summerside was constructed.
Edna (Bryanton) Pratt - Member of Canadian Women’s Auxiliary Airforce – Stationed at RCAF Summerside 1942.
Ron MacKinnon- Flight instructor at RCAF Summerside 1941.
Maudie Mae (Gunn) Matthews - Women’s Division - Stationed at RCAF Summerside 1945.
Allan Latham- Took basic training at RCAF Summerside in 1943.
Leonard Doiron – Stationed at RCAF Summerside for six months in 1945 following overseas service.
Memories Shared
Birth of RCAF Summerside Base
Farm fields of the community of North St. Eleanors were chosen by the Canadian Government to be transformed into the NO. 9 Flying school to train pilots needed overseas for the battles of WWII. People of the town of Summerside and surrounding communities watched a military facility quickly change the landscape.
"I helped survey the base in 1939 and wound up in 1940. Surveying poles work I did for about a month. It didn’t take long. Construction started.
I joined up and went to Moncton. When I came back I couldn’t believe all the buildings that had gone up here. The time was perhaps 6 months that I was away.
There were a lot of jobs building the base but I didn’t see it going up. There was nothing but buildings where farm fields had been." {Chester Mellish Murray}
Community Response To RCAF Summerside
The community of Summerside responded in a positive manner to the new RCAF Base. It was an economic infusion into the community. Civilians were able to find jobs.
"I got a job one time as a timekeeper here for the aircraft – take the time when he left and when he came back. I had a chance to go up flying. WD went in another plane – a Harvard doing aerobatics. I got sick and I didn’t want to dirty the aircraft – so I opened the coupe top and threw up. My teeth fell out on the runway. I walked back and picked them up and one tooth was broke out. They laughed at me. The other one didn’t get sick – her reaction was later – she threw up in the hanger." {Chester Mellish Murray}
Winter Welcome
Those coming to the RCAF base at Summerside for the first time were made to feel welcome by the local people but, often not by the weather, especially in winter.
"We came in on the ferry to Borden in January 1942 and they had huge banks of snow and I was shocked…it was piled up so that all we saw was the tops of telephone poles." {Edna (Bryenton) Pratt}
" I came March 1945. It was cold and windy and I didn’t think I would ever warm up. But it was a good reception." {Maudie Mae (Gunn) Matthews}
Training Pilots
The base was responsible for training pilots for the war.
"The Harvards were here at that time. They were a lovely aircraft. It was the first aircraft to fly off this air zone. They were a very good aircraft and did a lot of good work. The students enjoyed them and I am sure the instructors enjoyed them." {Ron MacKinnon}
The Art of Flying
The hardest part of flying was not take off or being in the air but, landing as illustrated by this story by Ron McKinnon.
"I had an American student that was very keen about flying. He had some difficulty with his elementary flying school and was having some desperate difficulty here trying to land the Harvard. I kept him for quite awhile and then I thought maybe a new instructor might be able to get to him – he couldn’t learn to land – he would level off too high or too low – he didn’t seem to have that depth perception you need to have to land the aircraft. So anyway, I gave him to someone else to see if they could do anything and they couldn’t. He finally washed out. I was in Summerside one night and was on my way to church – I walked into the church and this young man was kneeling down in one of the pews. He was sobbing like a young kid – he was so disappointed in not being able to get his wings - proudly go back to the States and say I got my wings from Canada. So I had a little chinwag with him and told him there were other things to do and he would find something. I felt very bad for him – he was so disappointed – you could tell he was so disappointed." {Ron MacKinnon}
Women and War
World War II brought about large changes in society, including the role of women. The RCAF formed a women’s division - CWAAF : Canadian Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. The Motto of the Women’s Division was " We serve that men might fly". There was some initial resistance, especially in the press, to the idea of women serving in the Air Force. The first airwomen to arrive at the Summerside base were put in barracks at the far end of the runway, as far from the airmen’s barracks as they could get them. Despite opposition women such as Maudie Mae (Gunn) Matthews continued to sign up:
"I joined because my older brother joined the Army, my next brother the Navy and I thought that’s enough of that – I’m going to join the Air Force. They were very much against it – they said ‘That’s no place for a girl’. I said – ‘I’m going to do it and I did.’ Then I did and then my younger brother did. There were 4 of us in the military. All 4 came back and nothing happened." {Maudie Mae (Gunn) Matthews}
Women’s War Work
The women of the CWAAF were hospital assistants, accountants, clerks, stenographers, cooks, drivers, service police and personnel administrators. They were all given basic boot camp, Air Force Law and Order and discipline training.
"Once the Airwomen got on the stations there was no problem with the airmen and the airwomen – they both went about their work and were accepted with their job and rank …It didn’t take long for them to forget about who was doing what and the fact that they had women in it – it was just a job to be done and Canada was getting on with it." {Edna (Bryenton) Pratt}
Uniform Policy and Practicality
Attitudes were slow to change. At first women weren’t allowed to wear slacks no matter what the temperature was.
"I was probably in the military 2 years before they decided you could wear slacks of any kind. It didn’t matter if you froze to death – you couldn’t wear them. They issued you some type of lisle stockings, which you wore but they weren’t very warm. The women went crazy once they brought out that you could wear slacks – it was so much easier when you were off duty." {Maudie Mae (Gunn) Matthews}
War and Romance
The young servicemen and women who served at RCAF Summerside didn’t let war distract them from the business of finding love. Many marriage unions were the result of wartime meetings. Couples tying the matrimonial knot did their best to have a beautiful wedding in the midst of the consumer shortages caused by war.
"We were married in the old Chapel (at RCAF Summerside.) It is gone now. Someone bought it for a house and moved it out towards St. Eleanors.
We had our reception in the Air Women’s lounge and things were scarce. But they did give the girls enough that they got me a cake made – it was ten dollars by the way – three tiers. The girls scrounged enough to get sandwiches made so we could have a fairly good reception. The Serg’s mess gave us their whole monthly ration of wine which was great because there were no liquor stores – nowhere you could buy liquor on the Island at all except in the messes on the base. So we had a great time and a great reception – everybody came."
{Maudie Mae (Gunn) Matthews}
Wartime Accommodations
The majority of unmarried service personnel found accommodations on the base. The marriage quarters weren’t built until 1950-1951. Married service personnel found lodgings outside of the base as in the case of Maudie Mae (Gunn) Matthews. Offering housing became a source of income for many people in Summerside.
"When we got married we rented down on the end of Water Street. There was a big house owned by two elderly ladies – I can’t remember their names – it’s been torn down – we rented from them for 4 months. The only heat in the house was this big pot bellied stove and you would put something in it and it would go putt – putt – way it would go- and scare them half to death if you started the fire up for there was nothing to it – she was afraid they were going to have a chimney fire and she was always after us – she would rather have us freeze then keep the fire going – but they were dear old souls really. There were 3 or 4 small apartments in the house. All married people." {Maudie Mae (Gunn) Matthews.}
Entertainment and Leisure
There was great comradeship and a good social life at the base. Movies would be shown at the base before they would be shown in town. The airwomen organized basketball and badminton and they would often play against women from Summerside. The men would also play but were more informal.
"We would probably play badminton or floor hockey or something like that. But there wasn’t anything organized – it was strictly on your own that you did anything like that." {Allan Lathem}
There were busloads of town girls brought in for dances on the base.
"We had pretty well all we needed on the base. We had some good entertainment. I was looking after some of it. That was part of my work – we had a lot of good bands – Mark Kennedy and His Western Gentlemen – Don Messer and Charlie Chamberlain and Marge Osborne. At that time we thought the music was great – of course we did – you couldn’t get any other bands – of course it was good. Everybody enjoyed it. They played waltzes, the foxtrot and the two-step, and polkas. The Jitterbug was a popular dance." {Maudie Mae (Gunn) Matthews}
Liquor Privileges
One thing that was hard to get in town but, was available at the Air Force Base was liquor.
"You could go to the Wet Canteen. There was never a problem going there if you were on the military base." {Allan Lathem}
Trying to get liquor in town was another story.
"There weren’t many parties or bars; we had our usual messes. There were no bars downtown. This place was dry. The sad part about P.E I. in those days was if you wanted to get a bottle of booze, you had to go and get a doctor’s prescription. It was dry. But there were all kinds of bootleggers. There was no shortage of them." {Leonard Doiron}
Women, in the early days of service, couldn’t go to the wet canteen with the airmen.
"Eventually they changed it so there was a wet canteen for the women."
{Maudie Mae (Gunn) Matthews}
A Change of Scenery
Summerside was a welcome respite from the RCAF Base. There was a bus service that had established itself sometime before 1945 as related by Leonard Doiron.
"When I was here in 1945 and needed to get downtown I took a bus. The base had buses running – something they don’t have on P.E.I anymore. We had buses that ran every couple of hours or every hour and a half. That was day and night. They ran the bus until midnight. Because lets face it, it was a fair size base." {Leonard Doiron }
Consumer Woes
One of the favorite pastimes, shopping, had hard pickings.
" I remember Holman’s shopping. It wasn’t good. Things were scarce during the war. When we got married you couldn’t buy a toaster or an iron – or anything like that – it was unheard of – you couldn’t even buy a pair of scissors – they weren’t being made. All the steel was going to aircraft and plants like that – you couldn’t buy anything like that – unbelievable. I was married a year before I could buy a pair of scissors – other than a little pair I had with me. They don’t realize today what we went through some of that time – what the people gave up and how they rationed – everything was rationed – butter – meat – gas – sugar: Sugar was really rationed. We were better off because the messes could get some of these things the civilians couldn’t. You couldn’t buy things in the store much because they just weren’t there."
{Maudie Mae (Gunn) Matthews}
That wasn’t the only problem with shopping according to Allan Lathem.
"I didn’t have any money to shop downtown. Do you know how much money we were making? – fifteen dollars a month. Of course, chocolate bars were only 5 cents – pop was 5 cents – I think cigarettes were 10 cents." {Allan Lathem}
Dining Out
Another treat was eating out in Summerside.
"Restaurants were going because it was a real treat to get off the base and eat out – especially payday they were really busy. They would go down by the busload to have supper out. That was really great – maybe twice a month." {Maudie Mae Gunn) Matthews}
Fond Memories
Those interviewed had fond memories of their time at the RCAF Base and in the town of Summerside. It is good to know that the people of Summerside treated those who were ready to serve their country with friendship and respect.
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