Cut Throat Island

Traveling in the H-21 helicopter, I arrived at Cutthroat Island in February 1958 after a short stay at Cartwright. There was plenty of snow on the ground and from the air there wasn’t much to see. As the chopper headed for Cutthroat I hung onto the safety strap in the doorway of the chopper to be sure that I did not miss anything.

The Cutthroat radar site was officially operating in the radar net along the coast of Labrador on 18 February, 1958 at 1900 hours-GMT. At that time Captain Ken Jones was the site commander. We had a UPA-35 scope until April when an OA-99 was brought in to replace the UPA-35.

Captain Jones appointed Rex Cates as the airman-in-charge of the radar operations. Cates and I set up shop in the rear of the tower and then set-up the work schedules. There were three operators at that time, Norris Peterson from Minnesota, Rex Cates from Illinois and I was from Alabama. In order to have round the clock coverage at the radar scope, there were several other airmen that cross-trained as operators, in addition to their own primary jobs. I remember Lewis Craig (Doc) the medic was very dependable as a scope operator. I guess that with all of us being so healthy he had many hours available to watch the scope.

In late spring or early summer of 1958 I went to Goose AFB on TDY to have two impacted wisdom teeth removed - Doc did not do dental work. While at Goose I made a trip to Happy Valley and to the Hudson Bay store where I purchased a guitar (Harmony Brand I think). When I returned to the site I proceeded to torment everyone there with my attempt to play the guitar. Doc was very good on the guitar, and Pop Vail - a civilian that worked in the power plant - was an excellent violinist. Pop had brought his own violin to the island. Doc and I insisted that it was a fiddle so we had a few laughs and debates over that issue. Ted Gear was a Labrador native whom we employed to perform kitchen and dining hall jobs. His Father-in-law, Mr. Oliver played the concertina or squeeze box. We never managed to get all of them together while I was there. Ted’s sister-in-law Rita Oliver owned a guitar also. She did not play it but was very generous with letting others play it. Doc would borrow the guitar on occasions and several times that summer we went by boat to several fishing villages and played for the locals. We usually had Pop Vail, John James, or Harry Whiffen, sometimes all three, as guides. (These three civilians worked in the Cutthroat site power plant). Pop was a registered guide in his home Province, which was either New Brunswick or Nova Scotia. John and Harry were from St. Johns.

Our transportation to the villages on surrounding islands was by a boat that was purchased from the profits made at the Radar Sites bar. Originally the bar profits were used by Captain Jones to purchase gifts for personnel departing Cutthroat. Someone had decided that this was improper so this practice stopped. I believe that only three people received these gifts, which as I recall were .22 caliber target pistols. The beverages at the bar were soda and beer that were provided by the government. We purchased the beverages from our pay and after paying for liquor that we purchased from Goose, there were profits.

Back to the boat - The boat was a regular fishing boat used by the people on the surrounding islands. It was a very stable craft about 14 to 16 feet long and about 4 to 6 feet wide. It was under water when we bought it. Pop, John, Harry, Doc and I, with help from some local fishermen raised the boat and towed it to Cutthroat. The three powerplant operators mentioned above did most of the restoration and modifications. The boat's engine was a 12hp Grey marine engine, 2 cylinder-4 cycle, fired by dry cell batteries and had igniters instead of spark-plugs.

Power was delivered to the propeller via a shaft running through a stuffing box, which had a perpetual leak. There was a sump located aft of the flywheel which accommodated a large bucket for bailing the excess water. We borrowed the hand pump from the sites water trailer and installed it beside the sump. This made bailing somewhat easier. The engine had a decompression valve that allowed us to run on only one cylinder. It was out understanding that someway we could not legally operate with 12 hp. The guys in the power plant ordered the necessary parts and rebuilt the engine. Pop Vail was the chief carpenter on this job. He designed and built a cuddy style cabin, complete with a wood burning stove. The cabin was covered with canvas then painted over to waterproof it. We caulked the hull with rope and white lead.

We retrieved several glass floats from fish nets that had washed onto the beach and placed a mooring line in the harbor. The harbor had been enlarged and made deeper at the entrance by an underwater demolition unit. I do not recall if they were military or civilian, American, or Canadian. The harbor was visited on one occasion by a fishing boat that had been converted from a sailing ship. I remember the name was "Mary Ruth" which is my mother’s name. Doc and I had the pleasure of going aboard with Harry, Pop and John and visiting the crew in their quarters. One other boat came in with an injured crewman, his foot had become entangled in a cable and his great toe looked very bad. Doc prepared to operate with my assistance. Fortunately the RCAF sent a chopper to take him out. I believe that I heard him say a prayer of thanks as he was leaving. It could have been a "thanks" for being rescued by the RCAF before Doc and I tried our surgical skills.

Others on the site that I recall are Jack Pursiful who worked in radar maintenance and was from Alabama, John Seals also a radar maintenance airman and was from Georgia I think. There was also T/Sgt Thompson (radar operator) whom I later ran into at SAGE school in Kansas City Mo. Other airmen on the site were Airman Richard Pope, Airman D Coder, and Airman Earl Brooks all with radar maintenance. Airman Miller ran the motor pool and Airman Mack was our cook.

One fine day I was going to my duty station when I smelled some smoke… It was coming from the room of one of the civilians - not Pop nor John nor Harry. I got on the PA system and alerted everyone. When we opened the door the person was unconscious. We pulled him off the burning mattress and threw it outside where we doused the fire. Needless to say Captain Jenne, who had replaced Lt. Carl Mossberg as site commander was, as we say down south, "a mite displeased" and had the person removed from the site ASAP.

There was an Airman Fair who worked in the radio field. He was a very quiet person and he won the only beer drinking contest that I can remember being held on the island. I do not recall who all was in the mess hall when the beer contest occurred, Thompson, Cates, myself and others I am sure. Other personnel came and went. I recall a guy who went around singing "The Witch Doctor".

Cates became ill during some very foul weather and I remember Doc wanting to give him some morphine. He was in terrible pain and none of us could rest. The medical officer at Cartwright would not okay the giving of the morphine. Doc talked to me about giving it to Cates anyway, but we decided not to. The weather finally broke and a chopper finally got through. Cates was taken to Goose where they discovered that he had a twisted intestine.

During the summer of 1958 the Olivers moved onto the island with Ted Gear. They had two daughters. The oldest was Ted’s wife.I never met her as she was in a TB sanitarium. The youngest was 15 or 16 years old. Rita was her name and as mentioned earlier owned the other guitar on the island. Doc and I spent as much time as possible outdoors, visiting other islands and their people. We ate seal flipper, a delicacy, Kaplan (fish), and loon. At one time the island had a rabbit running around - got stranded on the island. Doc and I managed to capture the rabbit and had a great meal. There was a loon, some ducks and a couple of geese that met the same fate as the rabbit. All things considered I enjoyed my tour at Cutthroat, leaving on December 12, 1958, and I would really like to visit the area again.

Courtesy of Charlie Mashburn