1945

Governor General's Inspection 1945 The Governor General of Canada, The Earl of Athlone inspects his Guard of Honour on the Legislative grounds. Guard officer of left is Sub.Lt. R.A. Darlington. (At time of publication Cdr. R.A. Darlington, C.F.H.Q., Ottawa).

At the beginning of 1945 the corps enrollment exceeded the 1000 cadet mark with the addition of a fifth ship's company. The officer compliment was also to increase and by February the officers' list included seventy names.

Commodore E.R. Brock C.B.E., commanding officer of Reserve Naval Divisions and a long time supporter of the Winnipeg sea cadets, inspected the corps early in the year. Commodore Brock expressed his pleasure with the corps turnout and hoped that they would continue the tradition that made the John Travers Cornwell unit, not only the largest, but one of the finest in Canada.

Included in Commodore Brocks' address was the news that the Navy League of Canada had acquired one half of Town Island in the Kenora district of Northwestern Ontario. He advised that plans are being formulated to construct a permanent cadet camp on the sight for the benefit of Manitoba sea cadets. This information was greeted with a great deal of enthusiasm by the cadets. Since the termination of the Winnipeg Beach camp in 1944 the only summer training available for the corps was the Navy League camp at Lake Eva in Ontario. During 1945, only 49 cadets and 14 officers had the opportunity to attend this facility.

The new camp, opened in August of 1944, was officially named Camp Ruttan, after the Manitoba president of the Navy League. The camp is discussed in more detail in subsequent pages.

A highlight of the training year was the inspection of the corps guard by the Governor General of Canada, The Earl of Athlone. The ceremony which took place on the Manitoba Legislative grounds was observed by a large crowd of interested spectators. The photograph, included above, shows the Governor General accompanied by the guard officer, Sub. Lt. R.A. Darlington. As a point of interest, the leading cadet shown on the right, is T. Dancer, who was to become the corps commanding officer during the 1950's and at the time of publication is the president of the Manitoba branch, Navy League of Canada.

Photograph was kindly provided by Cdr. R.A. Darlington, C.F.H.Q. Ottawa and Mr. R. Brock of Winnipeg.

Commodore E.R. Brock's Inspection Commodore R. Brock C.B.E., Commanding Officer Naval Divisions, inspects representatives of the 5 ships companies now numbering over 1000 with 70 officers. Others included in the photograph are Lt. J.W. Marshal, parade commanding officer; Lt. R. Marr, Parade Executive Officer; Cdr. Jeffries, head of sea cadets for Canada; Cdr. C.E. Kernahan, Commanding Officer, H.M.C.S. Chippawa; Mr. J.D. Ruttan, president Manitoba Division, Navy League of Canada; Mr. J.W. Sanger and Mr. S. Jones executive members of Manitoba division of the Navy League of Canada.

Commodore Brock takes salute from Guard of Honour at H.M.C.S. Chippawa.

Pages 60-61 

< Previous      Next >