The Reserves

That summer in the Reserves was very memorable for me, as that was the summer the Queen and Prince Philip came to Hamilton. We were on parade for them at Mount Hope and then we went to Hamilton to take place in the parade there. Then we rushed back to see them off.

By this time I had decided that joining the regular Air Force was going to be my only ticket out. My application to go to Teacher's College had been turned down because they felt I was too youthful and it would be better if I took Grade 13 and then reapplied. That meant another year of hell. After a long talk with my CO I enlisted and was soon on my way to St. Jeans and a new life.

St. Jeans

When I got on the train to St. Jean, it was the first time in my live I had ever been out in the world by myself. I enjoyed basic training. Going through all that drill a second time was a breeze, (at least it wasn't out on the runway) . When I did the aptitude tests and scored extremely well on them, they told me that if I had been male I could have written my own ticket in the military. In other words, had my pick of any trade I wanted. But being female, I was restricted to a handful so I decided to keep FCO.

St. Sylvestre/Clinton

Because I was already trained as a FCO, I was stationed immediately at St. Sylvestre, QC. I arrived right in time for the Christmas party. I barely had time unpack and get settled in before I got to go home for Christmas. After the holidays, new orders came down. Even reservists had to go to Clinton so I had to pack my bags again and hop on the train to Clinton where I proceeded to waste a few months time. In Clinton I roomed with one of the girls, Pat Smiley, that I knew from basic training even though she was now a few courses ahead of me. As I had already had all the training less than a year before, my marks were high. At one point, it was suggested that I was cheating. That sure got my dander up. I asked for an oral exam. After I passed that with flying colors, I got every Friday afternoon off while the rest of the course went over their exams. As I lived in Hamilton, I used this extra time to hitchhike home every weekend. Sometimes I lucked in and got a ride with an airman whose wife lived in Hamilton. Looking back, I wonder how I managed to do so much hitchhiking without any trouble. I graduated top of my class.

When I was finished at Clinton, I hopped on the train to go back to St Sylvestre.I was on Flight One, the best crew on the hill. St. Sylvestre had the top three FCO's in those years. In the spring trade exams, one of guys was top in Canada. I was tops in the 1960 fall exams and another airwoman came second. In the fall of 1961, new procedures were introduced. They had two different trade exams that fall. We got to choose whether to write on the old system or the new. I chose the new and she chose the old. She took top marks overall and I came in second (but first on the new procedures). I had nothing to lose by choosing the new procedures, as the female FCO's were slated to 'disappear' when the sites became SAGE operational and smaller crews would be needed.

St. Sylvestre At Play

Of course, St. Sylvestre was not all work. We had some parties that never seemed to end. In the summer, the whole base partied almost continuously. When the weather was nice, someone would suggest a beach party at the falls at St. Agathe. When a crew got off duty, they would join the party and those who had to go to work would leave. It seems we slept on the sand a lot, just getting back in time to get ready for work. There were square dances everywhere. There weren't any bars off base because it was a 'dry' county, but there were lots of bootleggers. There were a lot of house parties, too . I remember one when the CO W/C Lacomte (aka Joe the Group) brought the Bombardier snow machine to a party. We all had turns going for a ride in it. I forget how many it held. I do remember two girls fighting over something at the party and 'Joe' solved the problem. He gave them each a bottle of booze and told them to drink up. They were in no condition to fight after that.

The Chalet was the party place during the rest of the year. It was a beautiful spot with a lovely stone fireplace and lots of room to party. It was as a place to hold crew parties and wedding receptions that most will remember the chalet. I remember one incident that took place in the summer of 1961 at the chalet. It was the evening of our crew party and the band took a break. The guitar player and I went out on the front porch of the chalet. He heard someone messing around with his guitar and rushed to get back in. Unknown to anybody, the wood was rotten in spots and he fell through and he was injured. They soon decided that it was getting too unsafe to use anymore and it was demolished.

Moving Day In The Barracks

When I first got to St. Sylvestre, the WD's were housed in the two-story wing of the L-shaped barrack block and the other wing was for the airmen. We were crowded in 4 to a room that was only built for 2. It was decided to re-arrange the housing . The airmen were given the top floor of the 2-story wing and the airwomen had the whole ground floor of both wings. The FCOs were put 4 to a room in the old airmens wing and the other WDs were given private and semi-private rooms in the old WD wing. Moving day was extremely busy. Everyone in the whole barrack block had to move at the same time. We were moving things in through the windows. As I had not been there very long, I was unsure of whom I should room with. The problem was easily solved to my advantage as no one wanted room 2. The airmen who lived in it weren't the best housekeepers and nobody wanted to have to clean up after them. I didn't mind. It meant having a private room for awhile. The only problem was that one of the airmen from that room was in the hospital on moving day. When he was released from the hospital, nobody had told him of the move and he walked into his old room in the barracks. He must have thought he was in heaven finding a girl in his bed. Of course he wasn't the only airmen to drop in unexpectedly. For a short time after the move, when some of the airmen had a little too much to drink, they would forget and walk into their old abode. Of course there were also the ones who just wanted to sneak in after dark to visit a friend. As we used the same entrances it was very easy to do.

General

When a couple of the Flying Officers were getting in their air time, they arranged for flights for the crew. Unfortunately the weather turned bad and the flights were cancelled. At least we got to see what life was like on a flying base, especially Sunday breakfast in the mess. We were very grateful for the good food we got back at St. Sylvestre after that. Nothing like cold greasy eggs and bacon to make you appreciate what you have back home. I never got back into the air until 1975 when my husband was transferred to Beaverlodge and we flew up from Edmonton to Grande Prairie.

In the 60s Volkswagens were the rage and there was a Volkswagen Owners Club at St. Sylvestre. One year I went out with the guys who were mapping out the route for a rally. If I remember right, they had to send out a search team to find some of the lost participants. It sure was a good way to see some of the scenery around there. I remember one of the Volkswagen owners was a fellow named Robbie Robertson.

My career in the RCAF was short but full of lots of memories, both good and bad. The training I received in the RCAF helped me make it through all the problems that I had to face over the years.

WEBSITES

Several years back I received a phone call from an airmen who had worked with my husband. He told us about a new website that a fellow named Ren Lecuyer was creating about the Pinetreeline. They had submitted some photos that included my husband. At this time I didn't have the internet but I worked casual at the local library which had the internet. I started checking out the site. It didn't take long at that time. That site has now grown. Ren subsequently created a subsite for Metz on this site. Then he proceeded over the years to create sites for Marville, Grostenquin and his latest one for RCAF Air Traffic Controllers. Ren's live was cut short and we all miss him. His wife Margaret has agreed to keep the sites online for the time being. Click here to visit my Memorial Page.

Reunions

Over the past few years there have been many reunions for those who worked on the Pinetreeline and for the FCO trade. Due to many things I never made it to a reunion until the FCO Reunion in 2004 in Red Deer. I got to see many of the people I worked with at St Sylvestre. I loved it so much that I made sure I attended the next one in PEI in 2006. In 2008 the reunion will be held in Kelowna BC. In a newsletter regarding the 2006 Reunion I read an very interesting anecdote about being an FCO back before SAGE. I am including it here with the kind permission of the author Ken James. It is called The Mid Shift. I am sure it will bring back a lot of memories to those who served on the Pinetreeline. I know it did for me.