Materiel for Grostenquin
Everything that we received at Grostenquin in 1952 had been packed and crated in Canada and shipped overseas. This appeared to be a great waste of money. On arrival at the railhead in Faulquemont, any damage to any crate required that the particular box-car (small ones) be isolated and reported to lawyers representing each side (railway and DND). The litigation expenses must have been tremendous. The only items I can think of that were not shipped from Canada were vehicle parts. It took many months for a source of supply to be found for American style vehicles (a source was finally located in Luxembourg).
On the day of my arrival at 2 Wing about six stake trucks arrived driven by airmen and a Sgt. These vehicles had come from Faulquemont, a small town about seven miles away. Faulquemont was the nearest railhead to Grostenquin. I found myself driving one of these trucks for a period of about two months - hauling materiel to the airfield that was due to become operational in the "not so distant" future.There was no accommodation available on the station at this time so we resided in Metz. We would leave Metz about 7 am each morning, drive to Faulquemont, load up, deliver to the station and continue this process all day until about 8 pm when we would get into a station wagon and return to Metz.
Every piece of equipment for the station came from Canada - even down to lawn mowers and grass seed. There was an Algerian labour crew of 6 at the railhead and another 6 at the station to handle the off-loading.
Initially, all of the materiel was stored on concrete where the hangars were to be erected. Construction methods were different for the hangars. A roof would be built first, then they would hydraulically lift the roof and install the sides. Once the roof was up we would move the materiel from an uncovered pad to the covered one to protect the items from the elements.
After driving the stake truck for some time a Supply WO1 called Wingate decided there were enough LAC drivers available and I should not be driving. I was put in charge of the railhead unloading (box-cars) crew. Then the fun began. I could not speak Algerian or French. They could not speak English. After much arm waving and gestures they got to comprehend what had to be done and I got to understand that lunch was a loaf of French bread and a bottle of wine plus the fact that lunch lasted two hours. By the time I finished that job I was beginning to look and act like an Algerian.