Memories of Foymount
After completing a tour in France and a very happy holiday in Twillingate we once again were on our way to another RCAF Station. As luck would have it, we were transferred back to Foymount, the radar station that I had worked at prior to my tour in France.
This time, as a married person, I could no longer live in a barracks but had to find accommodations on the civilian market. There was a small area of about six houses about half way between the base and Eganville known on the base as Dog Patch. I don't know where the name came from unless it came from the old comic strip. The houses were two bedrooms if I recall but were really small. My life at Foymount this time was a bit better than the first time. I no longer lived in the barracks, no longer had to eat mess hall meals and now was a bit senior to quite a few of the people that I worked with. I had also had four years of Europe under my belt and that was a bit of a help.
My first job this time at Foymount was in an office of Officer Training. It was still up "the hill", as the radar site was referred to as, but was none the less a bit of a prestigious job. The Officer training was in Controlling fighter aircraft so as to control them in the air practicing intercepting other aircraft. At that time we were still in the Cold War with the Soviet Union and the purpose of these radar stations was to identify all aircraft within our sector, watch their movements on the radar and if there happened to be any that were not identified we were supposed to be able to intercept them with one of our fighter interceptors. There was an awful lot of practice doing these interceptions but we were lucky in the fact that we were able to identify them all as friendly. My main job was making up exams for the controllers to keep them in their best form.
While in Foymount I also participated in Search and Rescue Operations. It was a bit of a lark but did have its purpose. We were trained to read topographical maps, taught to search specific areas and live in the bush while doing so. As it turned out we were quite well outfitted with good tents, sleeping bags, proper clothing for the weather (it was winter when I participated) and we were always supplied with the best of food. So we did learn and practice what we were supposed to know and lived like kings with steak at most every meal. The purpose of the Search and Rescue was to help find and rescue anyone who might have had to crash land, was shot down, or for that matter any civilian who might have been lost in the woods.
The fishing in this area of Ontario was quite good at the time and I did spend quite a bit of time on streams and small lakes in pursuit of speckled trout. Never was a real whiz at it but did catch a few meals. I also did a bit of skiing here as well. This part of the world did get an awful lot of snow.
One of the most memorable events in this time at Foymount was the fact that I became a father. One Sunday morning, very early if I recall, Shirley woke me to say that it was time to go to the hospital. Records show that it was on 31 July 1960 and being the first time I had gone through this I was a bit apprehensive. In those days the father was not allowed in the area where the birth was taking place but had to wait in a special waiting room not knowing what was going on. I know I had, by far, the easiest part of this whole operation but was very concerned not knowing what was taking place. I have to admit that I am glad I was not allowed in as fathers are these days as I don't know if I could have endured it. This may sound like kind of weird but I was brought up to believe that I was supposed to keep my loved ones from all harm and when someone you love goes through what a woman does in bearing a child and not being able to relieve her pain would have been a terrible ordeal for me. Anyway after some hours in that waiting room a nurse came by carrying Gregory Ross and told me that this was my new son. He had not been cleaned up yet and to me I wondered if everything was as it should be. She assured me that it was and the next time I saw him he actually looked human. There is no way for me to describe the pride but I am sure that I felt no one else had ever done this in the past and am sure that my chest size grew about four inches that day. It was really Shirley's day as she was the one that went through the pregnancy and childbirth but for her comments you will have to get her to write her own story.
We moved from Dog Patch to a nice little house on Lake Clear, about four miles from the base. This was a real nice place and if I recall most of the time we were there it was winter. We still had our little Volkswagen beetle then and can recall taking it out on the ice on the lake, tying ropes behind and skiing and pulling Greg behind it on a small sled.
We were in Foymount until November 1, 1961 then transferred to Mont Apica, Quebec. This was another radar station in the Laurentides Park about 100 miles north of Quebec City.