West Coast Trip 2015 - Prep 3

History in the News

 ["Lined up like ducks in a row, as my Dad would say"]

Preparations for my May trip are progressing well. I should have a very full itinerary filled out by the end of the month, w visits to museums, meetings w family of WW2 veterans, and the sorting of WW2 photographs hitting the top of the list.

Yesterday I googled 'the spit, comox, combined operations' (The Spit is the name of the land where a Navy base is located on Vancouver Island; Comox is the town nearby; Combined Ops was the organization my father was linked to during WW2, along w RCNVR, the Wavy Navy). One article from the June 12, 2013 issue of The Comox Valley Record  caught my attention immediately, featuring a rare photo of invasion barges, aka assault landing craft, that was taken in 1943 near Comox.

["The name Givenchy III seldom appears concerning the RCNVR or CO"]

The article provided a bit of the Canadian Navy's century-long history on The Spit and a particular episode my father, with responsibilities re seamanship and gunnery skills ("the fine points of boatwork under oars and sail, of firing on the ranges"), would have experienced:

As the war progressed into 1945, the army's camp at Courtenay was soon closed down and the navy no longer was required to train army personnel in combined operations. However, Givenchy (III) continued to provide training on the assault course for the men of HMC ships. During April and May, the entire ship's company of the anti-aircraft cruiser Prince Robert was accommodated on the Spit for specialized training while the ship was refitting for duty in the Pacific.

Good material to have, I say. So, I have contacted the newspaper and will drop in to pick up a copy when I'm in Courtenay in May. And if the paper is interested in more material I can help with that. Good times.

Link to West Coast Trip 2015

Photos GH

West Coast Trip 2015 - Prep 2

Making Contact

["WW2 Navy boys played some ball in Comox, B.C., 1944-45"]

Prep work for a trip to Comox, on Vancouver Island, has begun. I've booked my May flights with West Jet because they land in Comox and I can cab to my accommodations in 5 minutes. Fun-tastic.

I've booked a cozy room in a solid house (via Airbnb) in Comox for the first half of the trip already, and a homeowner in Courtenay will book me into a room in his house once he's returned from vacation. Both homes are centrally located, minutes away from libraries and museums.

["Microfiche is on file at Courtenay Library"]

I have made one of three important contacts: Courtenay Library has microfiche records of WW2 era newspapers from the area and I simply have to call for an appointment once in town, Easy kap-easy. And I'm just waiting patiently for return emails from my other two connections.

["Library is open 'til 8PM. I'll be gone by 5"]

I have new travelling socks but still need new pants and shoes. I haven't organized a rental bike and if I don't start savin' up I'll be eating wieners and beans for almost two weeks.

So, there is still work to be done.

Link to West Coast trip

Photos GH

West Coast Trip 2015 - Prep 1

The Work Begins

["I travelled to the West Coast by train in 2012"]

In April. 2012, I travelled to Canada's West Coast by train in what I call now 'a door-opening trip'. At the time I knew my father had served with the Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve and an organization called Combined Operations during WW2 and had spent the last two years of the war (Jan. 1944 - Sept. 1945) on Vancouver Island in friendlier, safer surroundings than while in Europe from January 1942 - December, 1943. About his time on the West Coast he wrote, "It was heaven." And I wanted to see for myself.

["My 2012 hostel was behind J. McPhees, lower right; Navy boys

on leave stayed in nearby Riverside Hotel (uphill w shaded porch"]

For a few days in 2012 I wandered around Courtenay and Comox (towns a 2-hour drive north of Victoria) learning this and that about Dad's Navy days, getting a sense of the environment and activities he described briefly in his Navy memoirs. I met two women in their nineties who remembered him quite well and explored a dance hall where he spent more than a few Saturday nights. And at the end of my short visit I knew I would have to return.

["To 1940s Navy base - walk to end of pier, wait for a ship"]

Plans are in the works. I now have an important list of tasks to complete in order to be on a return trip this coming May. The following have to be checked off asap:

     book flight from London to Comox, and return

     book accommodation for Comox (3 days)
     and Courtenay (5 days)

     reconnect w Navy base at Comox (firm
     contact/entry is assured this time = yahooo!)

     reconnect w Courtenay Library and Archive
     (re newspaper microfiche files and photograph
     negatives, WW2 vintage, I already know they
     have a pile of them = yahoooo!)

     new pair of travel pants and walking shoes

     look for bike rentals

     save up me money fer a couple of good meals

Off we go to work.

Link to Scotland 2014 Photos

Photos GH