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No but I can give you a number that are no longer in use.
HMCS Cornwallis, near Digby. Nova Scotia, was originally built in the early days of WW2. It was the largest RCN training base in eastern Canada. I was there as a Sea Cadet in 1960, and at that time the base instructional and admin staff numbered about 3,000, plus a floating population of RCN new entries, who were there for a 16 week basic course, then they went on to their trades training courses. Now the base is a civilian operation that is called I think, the Lester Pearson Peace Training School.
In Ontario, there were at least 30 WW2 air force training airfields, plus a further 20 or so military training schools, that later became other sorts of things. Places like Harwood, Clinton, Ingersoll, and Delhi, and a large infantry training base at Ipperwash, and a tank and artillery firing range at Meaford. Meaford was reopened in 2002, as a working up location for infantry, armour, and artillery units heading to Afghanistan. Reserve members went there for a six month intensive training regime, to being their skills up to that of the regular member`s skills.
During the Second World War, Canada trained about 135,000 pilots, navigators, bomb aimers, radio ops, and air gunners, from 17 Allied countries. This was called the British Commonwealth Air Training Program. We also built over 150 air fields, and 55 training schools.
In the west, some places that were military locations are now closed, or are some thing else, now.
I guess we could called the POW camps for the German and Italians to be military locations. There were 40 of them, most were in isolated locations, far from any city or even a town. In Northern Ontario, along the trans Canada railway route, there were about 10 camps. The Germans built their own camps, using trees that they cut down, and a gasoline powered board mill to create lumber that they built the camp out of. The Veterans Guard ( WW1 Canadian army vets ) were the POW camp guards. They worked two months at the camp, than had a month of time off, at home. Many of the German POWS applied to come back to Canada, after the war was over.
During WW2 Canada had about 40,000 Axis POWs.
In the far north, the DEW line radar stations are all closed now. Have been since the mid 70`s. Sat coverage ended their usefulness. There were three lines in total, that ran from Alaska to Labrador.
I bet that most Americans don`t know about this one...........Argentia, Newfoundland, was a USN base from the middle of WW2, to the 1980`s. It was a part of the land for ships deal, between Britain and the USA. Britain got 50 WW1 USN naval ships, and the USA got to build bases in various places, like Bermuda, The Bahamas, and Labrador. Until 1949 Newfound was a British Crown Colony. They voted to join Canada in 1949, so they are our newest Province.
One last bit of WW2 history that most people today don`t know about.
In 1943, a U boat went to a isolated bay on the coast of Labrador, and they set up a automated weather reporting station, that relayed by radio, weather information, back to Germany. It was not discovered until the 1990`s, and it is now in the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.
link to the website about the robot weather station.
No but I can give you a number that are no longer in use.
HMCS Cornwallis, near Digby. Nova Scotia, was originally built in the early days of WW2. It was the largest RCN training base in eastern Canada. I was there as a Sea Cadet in 1960, and at that time the base instructional and admin staff numbered about 3,000, plus a floating population of RCN new entries, who were there for a 16 week basic course, then they went on to their trades training courses. Now the base is a civilian operation that is called I think, the Lester Pearson Peace Training School.
In Ontario, there were at least 30 WW2 air force training airfields, plus a further 20 or so military training schools, that later became other sorts of things. Places like Harwood, Clinton, Ingersoll, and Delhi, and a large infantry training base at Ipperwash, and a tank and artillery firing range at Meaford. Meaford was reopened in 2002, as a working up location for infantry, armour, and artillery units heading to Afghanistan. Reserve members went there for a six month intensive training regime, to being their skills up to that of the regular member`s skills.
During the Second World War, Canada trained about 135,000 pilots, navigators, bomb aimers, radio ops, and air gunners, from 17 Allied countries. This was called the British Commonwealth Air Training Program. We also built over 150 air fields, and 55 training schools.
In the west, some places that were military locations are now closed, or are some thing else, now.
I guess we could called the POW camps for the German and Italians to be military locations. There were 40 of them, most were in isolated locations, far from any city or even a town. In Northern Ontario, along the trans Canada railway route, there were about 10 camps. The Germans built their own camps, using trees that they cut down, and a gasoline powered board mill to create lumber that they built the camp out of. The Veterans Guard ( WW1 Canadian army vets ) were the POW camp guards. They worked two months at the camp, than had a month of time off, at home. Many of the German POWS applied to come back to Canada, after the war was over.
During WW2 Canada had about 40,000 Axis POWs.
In the far north, the DEW line radar stations are all closed now. Have been since the mid 70`s. Sat coverage ended their usefulness. There were three lines in total, that ran from Alaska to Labrador.
I bet that most Americans don`t know about this one...........Argentia, Newfoundland, was a USN base from the middle of WW2, to the 1980`s. It was a part of the land for ships deal, between Britain and the USA. Britain got 50 WW1 USN naval ships, and the USA got to build bases in various places, like Bermuda, The Bahamas, and Labrador. Until 1949 Newfound was a British Crown Colony. They voted to join Canada in 1949, so they are our newest Province.
One last bit of WW2 history that most people today don`t know about.
In 1943, a U boat went to a isolated bay on the coast of Labrador, and they set up a automated weather reporting station, that relayed by radio, weather information, back to Germany. It was not discovered until the 1990`s, and it is now in the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.
link to the website about the robot weather station.
Aaah, Cornwallis. Fond memories of my 16 weeks there in Margaree block after joining the ERA Apprenticeship program. What a hoot to reminisce about being marched into the bay in full #5's work dungaress and all of our kit in a blanket bag until our hats floated off...to then launder it all and iron it up ready for a full kit inspection the following morning..... .cripes you'd go to jail for doing stuff like that to the kids today.
Downsview in Toronto. HMCS York in Toronto???
Interesting tid-bit about that weather station. Nazis probably intended to use that info to predict ferry flights of new aircraft to then broadcast false weather info to the planes as they flew over Greenland on their way to Iceland and Scotland. They recovered a P-38 from beneath the ice of a glacier on Greenland that was part of a flight of 6 P-38's and one B-17 that had crash landed as a group on the ice after running out of fuel from turning back due to one of those false weather reports from Patrolling U-boats.
Here's another interesting aside to U-boats in Canadian waters along with perhaps four members of a U-Boat crew taking a pint or two in a Quebec City pub in 1940
Downsview still has some CF activity. A reserve armoury, for the GG's armoured unit, a defense medical research unit, and a large parking area for members PMV's in storage while posted outside of Canada.
HMCS York is still in use........ Did you ever have a chance to see the Chief's and PO's mess there ? Amazing like walking back to 1950. Leather smoker chairs, brass portholes, a beautiful oak floor, and a magnificent mahogany bar. The drill floor is also still oak plank.
I mentioned the POW camps in Northern Ontario. In Gravenhurst, in the Muskoka Lakes district, there was a German officers POW camp. The original buildings, pre war , were a children's TB treatment hospital. The location is now the Ontario Fire Training College. There was also a "strict discipline Camp " for hard core Nazis, at Bowmanville, Ontario. After the war it became a Ontario Reformatory, for teen age boys.
Old Fort Henry was used as a WW2 POW holding camp, for new arrivals, as a classification location. Some of the old rooms still have WW2 art work on the walls.
Downsview still has some CF activity. A reserve armoury, for the GG's armoured unit, a defense medical research unit, and a large parking area for members PMV's in storage while posted outside of Canada.
HMCS York is still in use........ Did you ever have a chance to see the Chief's and PO's mess there ? Amazing like walking back to 1950. Leather smoker chairs, brass portholes, a beautiful oak floor, and a magnificent mahogany bar. The drill floor is also still oak plank.
I mentioned the POW camps in Northern Ontario. In Gravenhurst, in the Muskoka Lakes district, there was a German officers POW camp. The original buildings, pre war , were a children's TB treatment hospital. The location is now the Ontario Fire Training College. There was also a "strict discipline Camp " for hard core Nazis, at Bowmanville, Ontario. After the war it became a Ontario Reformatory, for teen age boys.
Old Fort Henry was used as a WW2 POW holding camp, for new arrivals, as a classification location. Some of the old rooms still have WW2 art work on the walls.
Jim B. In Toronto.
Well, I'll be darned. I thought Downsview was just empty buildings now. GGHG was my dad's old outfit he was a troop sergeant with throughout WWII.
The only thing I saw of HMCS YORK was a large hall we lined up to get induction shots in both arms and I believe also my travel tickets etc., before heading off to Cornwallis by train with a short stopover in Montreal and I remember a ferry ride across to Digby as the water was rough and a huge coffee urn tumbling over in the cafeteria.
For the life of me, I cannot remember that slogan on the outside of the drill hall and I must have doubled around that parade square with rifle at port arms for hours one afternoon as punishment for some darn thing or another. I remember the Crest inside we got our passing-out pic taken under in Nov 63 but don't ask me the latin inscription.
Cornwallis was the only time I spent on the east coast as ERA's were trained at HMCS Naden in Esquimalt.
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