Feature Article

RED DEER SELECTED FOR MILITIA TRAINING CAMP: 1940

Written By: Michael Dawe
Published By: Red Deer Advocate Centennial Book
Article Used with permission. © Copyright Michael Dawe and the Red Deer Advocate, 2007
1999-01-01

On Aug. 7, 1940, the federal government announced the construction of a militia training centre in Red Deer as part of the efforts to mobilize for the war.

For the 2,800 residents of the city, the scope of the facility was staggering.

More than 30 buildings were to be constructed on a 20-hectare site northeast of Fifth Street North (55th Street) and Waskasoo (45th) Avenue.

Thirty-two officers and another 150 non-commissioned officers and men were to be stationed at the camp.

As well, up to 1,000 men were to be accommodated during a four-week training period.

Work on the camp began almost immediately. Soon nearly 200 tradesmen were employed on the site.

With a number of other major military and civilian construction projects, such as the Penhold airbase, new wing of the municipal hospital and new public intermediate school under way, a critical shortage of labour developed in the community.

Moreover, the new militia centre meant that the city had to provide extensive sewer, water and electrical power hookups.

With the cost of these utility installations exceeding $15,000, the city was forced to borrow money from the bank to meet current expenses for the first time since 1924.

In early October 1940, the training camp, officially named the Non-Permanent Active Militia Training Centre (NPAMTC) #130, was finally ready to be opened.

However, as often happens with well-planned and rehearsed events, there was chaos when 200 men showed up one day earlier than expected.

The military authorities spent a frantic evening trying to find bunks for all of the men and enough rations to feed them supper.

Eventually, all of the snags were straightened out.

The next day the first group of 900 men received their medical examinations and began their one-month period of training.

As the militia camp became fully operational, its impact was felt throughout the community.

Restaurants found it necessary to expand their premises and hotels enlarged their beer parlours.

A number of the officers and permanent staff at the camp decided to bring their families to Red Deer to live.

As a result, there was a growing shortage of housing in the city.

In the second week of November, 1940, the first class of soldiers finished their training with an air raid.

A few days later, the next group of 1,000 trainees started their stint at the camp.

Their arrival in Red Deer coincided with the sudden appearance of winter. Temperatures plunged to minus 30.

A round of influenza swept through the camp and several dozen men were laid up in the camp hospital, which did not have all of its furnaces hooked up.

In 1941, the federal government announced that the training period for men called up under the National Service Act would be extended to four months from 30 days.

Consequently, in March 1941, military authorities announced that the militia training centre would be changed into an eight-week advanced training camp for the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps.

The new centre, which was to be named A-20, was to include 100 officers, 500 instructors, 500 active servicemen and 500 recruits in training.

Work began on a number of new buildings. Large quantities of equipment and vehicles were transferred to Red Deer from other military installations.

In 1945, as the war began to draw to a close, the A-20 Camp was transformed into a training centre for recently discharged veterans.

As such, it was renamed the Canadian Vocational Training Centre No. 8. Also, with a local housing shortage becoming critical with all the returning men, suites were created for veterans and their families in the old barracks huts.

The camp continued to be put to new uses after the war.

In 1947, the Red Deer School Division acquired a large portion of the camp and turned it into a high school dormitory for students from the surrounding rural areas as well as the city of Red Deer.

One of the drill halls was turned into a community auditorium and gymnasium, the Memorial Centre.

The old motor pool building remained with the Department of National Defence and continues to serve as Red Deer Armouries to this day.

Not all training flights from the Penhold training base ended safely, as this 1941 photo attests. Surviving pilots began to face real danger upon graduation, taking up war assignments with the British Air Force.

This article was written by Michael Dawe for the Red Deer Advocate’s Centennial Book. The Heritage Community Foundation would like to thank Michael Dawe and the Red Deer Advocate for permission to reprint these materials online. Please visit the Red Deer Advocate online.The images in the article are part of the collection of the Red Deer Archives. Please visit them online.