Holberg, BC

Station Hospital

Three male and four female infants were delivered in the Station Hospital.

Staff changes included:

First Aid courses were conducted on a continual basis during this period.

The first member of the RCAF’s Women’s Division to visit Holberg was Cpl. Leong-See. She was here for five weeks as a dental assistant to the Army dentist.

White Gift Service in the Chapel with the Sunday School pupils in attendance. As a result, $52.00 was sent to AFHQ toward the Sunday School Project of aiding Canadian Indians on the Ohsweken Reserve in Ontario build a new church.

A total of $767.48 was sent to AFHQ as the Missionary Offering for 1962 from the Protestant Chapel.

First broadcast of "Chapel Chimes" a weekly fifteen minute Radio program sponsored by the Chapel over Station CFHG.

Visit of the Director of Religious Administration (P), G/C ES Light, to our Station with a reception held in honour of his visit on 1 May in the School Auditorium.

A mission was preached by Reverend FD Galbraith, the civilian officer for the RC clergy.

F/L JB Lavigne assumed duties as RC Chaplain.

Due to a shortage of funds during this period, very few construction projects were carried out. The CEU, however, completed two very necessary projects. One was the placing of Gabions along both banks of the Goodspeed River at the bridge, on the access road to the Station. Work commenced during January and was completed in May 63. The other project was the changing of the air conditioning in the SAGE Annex, which was completed in approximately four weeks.

The work accomplished by the CE Section during this period consisted of routine maintenance of buildings, roads, and a considerable amount of brush cutting. Due to the fine sunny season, grass cutting and weeding commenced with an early start.

By May, the exterior painting program was well under way.

Oil tankers with one hundred thousand gallons of fuel arrived on 28 Dec 62 and 5 Jan 63. Holidays were shortened in order to meet the unloading deadlines.

The Commanding Officer congratulated the section on an accident free period of six months.

High winds and rain caused a small landslide and a few fallen trees to block the road to the Operations Site. Within a few hours the road was cleared, and traffic was resumed to normal.

Due to heavy rains, the level of the Goodspeed River rose high enough to cause minor damages to part of the road between the dock and the station.

Three fires occurred during this period. All three fires were in the Apartment blocks and caused a total damage of $72.77. In addition, during this period, the fire crew responded to three false alarms, 3 civilian fire calls, and 2 other emergency calls where no fire resulted.

In April FS GA Bates assumed duties as Fire Chief.

During May, 30 personnel from Rayonier Logging Company were given training in basic fire fighting. These personnel were to form a volunteer fire crew at the Rayonier Logging camp.

Personnel employed in Ground Training at the start of this report were:

18 Dec 62

Sgt. OD Jerowsky assumed duties of NCO i/c Ground Training upon transfer of Sgt. Griechen. Sgt. Jerowsky was TOS from TSE Trenton.

Safe Passage training was carried out, conducted by Ground Training personnel. This training was given to all operations personnel and was followed up with practical experience under supervision.

Sgt. Jerowsky, NCO i/c Ground Training, attended SAGE LRR training at McChord AFB and Blaine AFS, Washington.

SAGE LRR conversion training for all FtrCops was carried out continuously in preparation for LRR Operations. This course was instructed by the Ground Training staff, under the direction of the NCO i/c Ground Training.

Desk Top V, a NORAD wide STP exercise, took place on this date. Ground Training staff co-ordinated and monitored the exercise.

A Tactical Evaluation of 25^th NORAD Region was conducted. 53 AC&W Squadron, as an integral part of 25^th Region, was evaluated by an ADC Tac Eval Team. An STP exercise and live exercises were run as part of the evaluation. Ground Training personnel co-ordinated and monitored these exercises.

Group 1, 2 and 3 Trade Examinations. Twenty-eight airmen attempted the examinations.

53 AC&W Squadron was evaluated by the ADC Tactical Evaluation Team. The Ground Training section was evaluated in all aspects of Operations Training.

Desk Top V NORAD wide STP exercise, was run for the second time in 1963. Ground Training staff co-ordinated and monitored the exercise.

Group 4 Trade Examination. Four NCO’s attempted the Examination.

Cpls. Qualifying Examination. Eight Cpls. Attempted the Examination.

FS Qualifying Examination. One FS attempted the Examination. F/L CL Vaessen assumed duties of SGTO upon transfer of F/L AJ Fraser.

Accepted GATR site by signing AFTO 88 from RCA.

Unit prepared to switch over to a SAGE tied site 1 Jun with the exception of the Air/Ground/Air channels which are expected to be operational 1 Jul 63.

The Naval Auxiliary Vessel "Laymore" installed two aircraft moorings in Holberg Inlet.

The civilian aircraft CF-HJK, Alert Bay, crashed near Holberg Dock. Casualties were picked up by MV "Avocet". Sgt. WL McCallum, on attached duty from Station Cold Lake, was coxswain of the "Avocet".

The 75 foot personnel vessel, YFP 308, arrived from HMC Dockyard, Esquimalt, to replace MV "Nimpkish II" during a refit.

The naval tug "Clifton" arrived from Esquimalt and proceeded on the return trip with the MV "Nimpkish II" in tow.

The MV "Nimpkish II" arrived at HMC Dockyard, Esquimalt for refit for a duration of 60 days.

During this winter and spring period, the Recreation Centre conducted a varied program of athletic and social activities. Service and civilian personnel were all able to participate in activities according to their own interests. At the end of May, the Destroyer Escort "HMCS Saguenay" visited Holberg. The recreation staff organized a sports competition between Air Force and Navy personnel.

Following are general items of interest which have occurred during the period covered by this report.

Many changes in the personnel strength occurred during the period as a result of officers and airmen becoming tour expired. Approximately 50% of the total strength of the unit was involved in the change-over.

6 Dec 62

Nuclear Defence Staff visit by F/L Winchester, during which a practice alert was held to test Squadron alerting and Nuclear Defence procedures.

During this period, 7 USAF controllers from the 552^nd Airborne Early Warning and Control Wing, McClellan AFB, Sacramento, Calif., visited the Squadron. These officers visited in groups of two, each staying for a two week period commencing 10 Jan 63. Their mission was to gain intercept practice and to be evaluated on their control capability, since they conduct very few manual intercepts during their normal work. The officers who visited were as follows:

28 Jan 63

The Squadron participated in the control portion of 409 AW (F) Squadron Tactical Evaluation, during which period many practice intercepts were conducted.

The Squadron participated in Exercise Desk Top V, a NORAD wide synthetic exercise.

W/C JS Inglis, CO of 409 Squadron, and two USAF exchange officers of that Squadron visited the Station.

A Tactical Evaluation of the Squadron was conducted by the ADC Tactical Evaluation – Ground Team lead by S/L Pattinson.

As a part of the 25^th NORAD Region, the Squadron participated in Exercise "Mute 5" – an Operational Readiness evaluation of the 25^th NORAD Region conducted by NORAD HQ.

The Squadron commenced automatic HRI operation on a part time basis as a part of the SAGEing process.

The active portion of exercise "Desk Top V" was conducted.

During this period the Squadron participated in 23 Region and Sector live exercises, and also in a large number of synthetic exercises, all designed to maintain the operational efficiency of the Air Defence System.