HMCS Cornwallis Tales

From the get-go, my recollections of my basic training at HMCS Cornwallis are still vivid. After pulling out of the railway station in Hamilton Ontario with a few of my fellow recruits in my sleeper car, I was on my way to navy life. It was my first time on a train and travelling outside of my home town. Checking out the new scenery enroute to Nova Scotia was very exciting. My new pals and the train experience were great and it wasn't long before we passed through the HMCS Cornwallis gate. At that moment my life began to change.

From living in a small house and sharing a bedroom with three brothers, things changed abruptly. I was transported to a building with 64 fellow recruits and a couple of Petty Officers who were in charge. All of these people were total strangers. It was a shock to say the least, and it took a while for it to register. The good part though, was that for the first time in my life, I got my own bed.

Over the next 15 weeks I covered quite a bit of new territory, mostly all good.

Highlights being:

• I had my first full-time job – I was earning $88.00 a month.
• I probably broke a record. Three of my cousins joined the Navy at the same time as me. Really four cousins, since I learned later that my best pal at Cornwallis, Doug Blayney, is related to a female cousin of mine. Close enough, I have since considered him my unofficial cousin.
• I met guys from all across Canada who had lots of stories. Some were even true.
• I was issued tons of clothes – all new – and I had to learn to sew. Each item needed my name sewn into it. Reason being, so that over the next three years, the clothes would be returned to me after being laundered, or dry-cleaned.
• I learned to march with precision. I also learned a finer marching detail, double-marching during daylight hours. Double marching was twice the speed of walking. You did not want to forget about this requirement.
• Jumping from a 15-foot tower into the base's swimming pool and thrashing through the water into a life raft. Some recruits didn’t like this at all.
• To follow all orders received and to obey all signs, immediately. I didn’t observe a ”Do Not Walk On Grass" sign one morning and received five days punishment running around the base parade square for a hour each day with a heavy rifle almost overhead (at the high-port). That didn’t happen again.
• Learned about laundering my clothes. I was soon an expert, after a few mishaps. I soon learned not to wash the blues and whites together.
• Being amazed at the Bay of Fundy tides in the bay below my bar­racks. I used to stand in the water during the rising tide. It didn’t take long for it to rise over my head.
• Playing on the (Margaree 2/61) Soccer Team. We won the base champ­ion­ship.
• Learning how to operate deadly weapons. We had a weapons firing range where we learned how to operate Fabrique National (FN) rifles, British Sten sub-machine guns and Browning automatic 9MM hand guns. I even managed to hit a few targets during training.
• I survived nightshift duty, which was a little spooky. I had to do midnight rounds through empty base office and classroom buildings, barely lit. Then record anything relevant, which was nothing. However, I did get to sleep-in a bit the next morning.
• Surviving the Assault Course: At the end of training we had to run an obstacle course. We had to crawl face-down in mud, under barbed wire, climb over tall wooden structures with tiny handgrips, scramble over rope bridges suspended in trees, and my favourite, crawling through a small hut with a mazed interior filled with sulphur smoke. The whole way we had to carry a heavy FN rifle and try to smoke a cigar.
• Finally, a special highlight was to watch the antics of the guys who couldn't stand being away from the girls during training. They knew no bounds. Although they could take base leave and go into town (Digby) to find girls, that wasn’t enough for some. Those guys joined the base church choir to meet the WRENS (female sailors). The behaviour worked – some guys met their future wives.

My days at Cornwallis soon came to an end. I was off to Halifax and on to new adventures.