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BRITISH COLUMBIA
Work Point Barracks:
Opened in 1887 at the entrance to Victoria Harbour as the home for C
Battery, Royal Canadian Artillery (RCA), who moved here from Quebec. A
military prison was built in 1904, featuring a 10 foot outer brick wall
and barred windows.
B Company, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) were
quartered here from 1920 until they left for England in 1939. Later the
58th Field Engineer Squadron (58 FER - re-named 1 Combat Engineer
Regiment in 1977) made Work Point their home.
In 1957 C Battery, RCA departed, as did 58 FER to Camp Chilliwack. The 1st Battalion, PPCLI, returned to Work Point Barracks in 1957, remaining until they were replaced by the 1st Battalion, The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada (1 QOR) in 1963. On 17 March 1970, 1 QOR was re-badged the 3rd Battalion, PPCLI, and became an amalgamated Reserve-Regular Force Battalion, responsible for Reserve infantry training in B.C.
With the Unification of the Forces, Work Point Barracks became part of
CFB Esquimalt. The officer training schools of the three former
services were merged into one, the Canadian Forces Officer Candidate
School (CFOCS), and re-located to CFB Cilliwack in 1970.
In 1994, 3 PPCLI also moved from Work Point Barracks to CFB Chilliwack.
The Naval Officer Training Centre Venture, moved to Work Point Barracks
from the World War II era building it occupied at HMC Dockyard
Esquimalt. By 1997, a new 2,000-square-metre building was constructed
overlooking Victoria Harbour, including space for administration
offices, instructional & training, sports facilities and a student
lounge.
On 30 September 2005, the new Kingsmill building was officially
dedicated. The six-story accommodation building provides 172 rooms for
naval officer trainees.
In the spring of 2006, the Officer's Mess and Quarters was declared
surplus and despite a campaign by the local community to save the
heritage building, it was demolished.
The old military prison closed long ago and is now used for
storage.
Source material: Maritime Forces Pacific web site - http://www.navy.forces.gc.ca/marpac/0/0-w_eng.asp?category=97
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Naval Radio Section Aldergrove:
Originally established during World War II on the grounds of
HMC Dockyard at His Majesty's Canadian Ship (HMCS) Naden, the Royal
Canadian Navy base for the Pacific Fleet. However, interference from
the base created a problem for receiving radio signals and the radio
station had to be relocated.
A Wireless Telegraph receiver station was established near the
town of Aldergrove in December 1942, and the following November, a
Wireless Telegraph broadcast station was established near the town of
Matsqui Prairie. After World War II ended, activity at both stations
was greatly reduced.
On 1 June 1955, the radio station resumed full operations,
providing ship/shore and air/ground communications for Canadian and
Allied Armed Forces on the Pacific coast. The station was re-named Her
Majesty's Canadian Naval Radio Station Aldergrove, but a year later the
name was changed to simply Her Majesty's Canadian Ship Aldergrove.
As a result of the Unification, HMCS Aldergrove was again re-named
Canadian Forces Station Aldergrove in 1967.
In the mid 1990s, a reorganization and consolidation occurred within the
Canadian Military. Several bases were either downsized, merged or
closed and as a result, CFS Aldergrove was downsized to a remote
broadcast control station and a Detachment of CFB Esquimalt (Naden).
The Detachment was again re-named Naval Radio Section Aldergrove in 1996
to officially acknowledge the unit's naval heritage.
In 2001 Naval Radio Section Aldergrove returned to the HMC Dockyard at
CFB Esquimalt (Naden) for the first time since 1942. The transmitter
and receiver sites at Aldergrove and Matsqui remain operational, but
several buildings at Aldergrive have been domolished including the
single quarters, the stations water tower, and the junior ranks club.
Both Aldergrove and Matsqui can be remotely controlled by CFB Halifax.
Similarily, both the Mill Cove and Newport Corner can be remotely
controlled by CFB Esquimalt.
NRS Aldergrove remains the home to several Reserve and Cadet
units: B Troop, 15th Field Artillery Regiment, B Company, 746 "Lightning Hawk" Royal Canadian Air Cadet
Squadron, 169 COLUMBIA Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corps & 1922 Royal
Canadian Army Cadet Corps, "Royal Westminster Regiment. The Canadian Forces Housing Agency still maintains 9 PMQs (now called Residential Housing Units) for military members posted to Aldergrove and Matsqui Prairie.
The Royal Westminster Regiment's Aldergrove Detachment was also located at Aldergrove, but re-located to
Chilliwack in April 2013.
Source material: DND press release from February 1994,
information provided by Michael DesMazes, Local Historian (2002), information supplied by the Canadian Forces Housing Agency (2011) &
information provided by Petty Officer 1st Class J. MacDonald,
Information Systems Manager, Naval Radio Section Aldergrove (2000) & The Chilliwack Progress, 4 February 2013 - http://www.theprogress.com/news/189222671.html.
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Canadian Forces Station Leitrim - Detachment Massett:
Originally opened as a Royal Canadian Navy radio intercept
station, Naval Wireless Station Massett (old spelling) on 23 February
1943. Situated at the top of the Queen Charlotte Islands, the station
proved to be an ideal location for shop-to-shore communications.
Also during 1943, the RCAF's No. 9 Construction Maintenance
Unit arrived and constructed an airfield and several buildings. The
station even had a detachment of Cano Code trained Special Operators
posted to the site in 1944.
The end World War II saw the closure of many military bases and
Naval Wireless Station Massett was no exception, closing in the fall of
1945. The site remained in RCN hands on a care and maintenance basis.
Naval Radio Station Masset resumed operations in 1949 as a High
Frequency Direction Finding and Signal Intelligence station at not one,
but 3 sites. The Delkatla site was re-activated as the main operations
centre, another operations centre and the accommodations block were
situated at the "old site" in Masset and the transmitter/receiver site
was in Haida Village. By the mid 1950's, married quarters had been
constructed at the Masset site.
In 1964 operations were centralized at the Masset site and the
Delkatla and Haida sites closed. A new antenna system was built and the
station received a complete upgrade in it's facilities, including new
married quarters, a new operations site, new barracks, mess and
recreation facilities.
As a result of the Unification, NRS Masset was re-named CFS
Masset and the station became part of the Canadian Forces Supplementary
Radio System.
In 1971, Masset's importance was bolstered when the station
assumed the area of responsibility once the control of the former
Canadian Forces Station Ladner. As well, the United States Navy
Security Group had a small contingent of personnel posted to Masset.
Department of National Defence cutbacks resulted in the station being
downsized to remote operation on 4 April 1997. The station was
re-designated CFS Leitrim Detachment Masset and only 10 military
personnel remain for technical support, drawing support from 19 Wing
Comox.
Most of the buildings at the former station have been sold to
the Village of Masset, except for a few of the PMQs & the gym. A
top floor was added to the Golf Clubhouse and that is the all ranks mess
All that remains of the "old Massett site" is a deserted
roadway.
Source material: DND press release from February 1994, CFS
Masset site - http://www.island.net/~labrador/cfsm.htm, CFS Masset site -
http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Bunker/7803/masset.htm &
information personal recollections of Petty Officer 1st Class Kevin
Lamorie (2004).
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Camp Nanaimo:
Opened in 1939 as a militia training camp, Camp Nanaimo was also used as a Combined Operations base for the training of army and naval groups, until 1943.
The camp closed in 1946 and many of the buildings were sold for civilian use. The former military hospital became a Department of Indian Affairs hospital.
The camp later reopened as the home of the 5th Field Artillery, "B" Company of the Canadian Scottish Regiment, and the 748 Communications Troop.
By the late 1950s, the threat of a nuclear war had become so great that the Canadian government decided to construct a secret underground bunker to house the major elements of the government in the event of an emergency. Most Provincial Governments followed suit by building their own bunkers. The British Columbia Government chose Camp Nanaimo for the site of their bunker. A smaller transmitter bunker was built at Nanoose Bay.
By 1970, Camp Nanaimo began downsizing. Approximately half of the camp was sold and by 1973, the vacated portion of the camp had been taken over by Malaspina University College, now called Vancouver Island University.
Today, Camp Nanaimo is a Detachment of CFB Esquimalt. Most of the WWII era buildings hve been demolished. One of the few remaining buildings is an old H-hut that sits on the university property, used by the Navy League of Canada. A a small section of former camp serves as the home of 740 Communication Squadron and 748 (Nanaimo) Communication Squadron (Reserve), both housed since 1988 in a building named after RCMP Constable Scott Gordon Berry who was killed in 1986, and The Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary's), housed in a new armoury opened in late 2004. The remainder of this section of the property contains only overgrown roads and a running track for the old camp gym.
The camp's firing range also remains operational, but the bunker was demolished in 1999.
Source Material: Malaspina University College web site -
http://www.mala.bc.ca/www/discover/muchist/chpt3.htm, information
supplied by Jerry Berry, resident of Nanaimo (2005) & the Heritage
BC web stie - http://www.heritagebc.ca/heritage_bc04.htm.
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Camp Albert Head:
Originally an artillery coastal battery from 1938-1946.
Post-war it was used by the militia, regular army and navy, including
Naval Officer Training Centre and cadets.
Source Material: information supplied by Debbie Towell,
Curator, CFB Esquimalt Naval & Military Museum.
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