We sailed out of Quebec City on 16 October 1952, on the SS Columbia a Greek ship. There was 100 airmen and one woman in our group. It took 9 days to make the crossing, mainly because we broke down in mid Atlantic, and drifted for two days while they repaired a shaft or screw. To top it off we had quite a bad storm with very high seas, a lot of people were seasick, but not me I was too drunk. One night they had a party in the aft bar and I had gone to my cabin to sober up, when one of the guys came by and told me about the party. I put my raincoat on over my pajamas and headed down there, but not for long. The ship was pitching up and down and then would roll from side to side. There were people, glasses, and all sorts that were sliding across the floor and ended up in a pile against the walls. I was escorted back to my cabin by the Orderly Sgt. and told to stay there, but after he left I needed some air so I went up to the sundeck, which was the upper deck above the promenade deck. I wasn't there very long when a wave came up over the rail and washed me down from head to toe. What can I say - I sobered up in a hurry.
We landed at Cherbourg I believe and got on the train to Paris, where they had set up some kind of headquarters to sort us all out before moving on to Grostenquin. We got paid and spent the weekend in Paris and a very good time was had by all.
When we got to 2 Wing construction was still going on and a lot of the buildings were not finished yet, including the fire hall. All us firefighters were put in a barrack block which we shared with the SPs and a detachment of French airforce police. The water was undrinkable so they put large containers of water in each block loaded with chlorine. It was bad enough to have to smell it never mind drink it. I drank a lot of lemonade which we could buy in large bottles. It tasted more like a sweet soda water - then of course, I drank a lot of milk and beer. I must say the meals in the mess were good - better than most stations that I had been on. The construction workers which we called Arabs (Algerians) had a tin shack where they set up a canteen for themselves. They sold beer, lemonade, cheese, and a few other goodies at a very cheap price. As I recall they didn't get paid very much about 25 francs an hour, and a hundred francs was worth 28 cents at the time. Their canteen was out of bounds to us but we went there to get drinks anyway in the daytime when our canteen wasn't open. As we were part of the first group over there we put up with all the mud and other discomforts, and it did turn out to be a pretty good station from what I have heard.
We eventually got into the fire hall and I started to build a scale model of the station in my spare time. I was good at that kind of stuff back then. I bought my first camera at the PX which I still have in mint condition - also bought my first 35 mm camera there later. I took a few good shots with that one. Air Marshall Slemon came one day to inspect the station and I got a good shot of him coming up the ramp into the fire hall. I have misplaced it but when I find it again I will send it to you along with the humorous story that goes with it. I was not married when I went to 2 Wing. I married an English gal who I met when I went on leave from Grostenquin. I left 2 Wing in the late summer of 1953 and went to 1 (F) Wing at North Luffenham, and later ended up in Marville when 1 Wing moved over there. One of my buddies, an LAC Pritchard ,had a girlfriend in London and he happened to be on leave when a posting came in for North Luffenham. He was the senior man and I was second in line, but he was on leave so guess who took the posting. I was gone by the time he got back but I wish I could have seen his face when he found out about it.