Hopedale, Labrador

On 8 Feb 1952, the 373d Trans Major Port was assigned to the Corps of Engineers for the purpose of planning, phasing and controlling the discharge of all cargo destined for Operation SUNAC (Support and Supply for North Atlantic Construction).

Since the operations encompassed an area too large for effective centralized command, Sub-Ports were organized as of 11 March 1952 and the duties connected therewith delegated to Sub-Port Commanders. The Provisional Sub-Port Gypsy, later changed to Sub-Port Pine Tree, and hereinafter referred to as same, was given the task of six Pine Tree sites extending from St. Anthony, Nfld. to Frobisher, Baffin Island, and was under the command of Lt. Col. James C Sherman.

Due to the nature of the operations assigned to Pine Tree, with respect to the shipping season for individual sites, it was decided to further break down the Sub-Port into two Task Teams with identical organizational structures. (Chart #1, attached). The operational dates and responsibilities for sites were to be as follows:

Task Team #1 (Det. #4)

Task Team #2 (Det. #5)

The above teams (Dets. 4 & 5) were to work these sites consecutively and simultaneously with operations commencing at each site on or about the above dates.

Task Team #1 was officially created on 29 March 1952 and the following assignments were effective as of that date:

There were present for duty this date, 19 EM from the 4^th Prov. Terminal Section and 12 EM of Det. #1, 24^th Sig Service Bn, Increment #4. From the former, personnel were selected to augment Task Team One Headquarters.

During April, five officers joined and were assigned by Major Maguire as follows:

The units, detachments and/or increments assigned to Task Team One were as follows:

The actual mission of the Task Team was to plan, phase and control the discharge of all Cargo from the Cargo Vessel to the beach and the transportation from that point to the final Storage Area. In order to keep abreast of the current cargo status, liaison was established between Sub-Port Pine Tree and the civilian contractor Fraser-Brace-Terminal Contractors, through the Atlantic District Engineers.

Conferences between members of the Sub Port Pine Tree and Corps of Engineers, Chief of Transportation, US Navy (ComPhibGrup #4) and MSTS established the following responsibilities:

The actual consist of Naval vessels making up the Task Team were:

On 16 May 1952, the first element of Task Team One departed Camp Kilmer for Norfolk, Va (HRPOE). This group consisted of six drivers and four vehicles to be loaded aboard LST 601. The LST departed Norfolk on 20 May for Harmon AFB, Nfld., to pick up 1 officer and 35 EM of the 973^rd Eng Const. Bn.

During the last week at Camp Kilmer we were joined by the following officers:

At 2115 hours, 23 May 1952, Task Team One officially departed Camp Kilmer for Shelton, NJ where, at 2200 hours, the personnel entrained for Norfolk, Va.

At 1100 hours, 24 May, Task Team One arrived at Norfolk and was driven to HRPE. At 1315 hours, we boarded the USS Latimer, located at Pier Two. Already on board were all unit and/or detachments with the exception of the 973^d Const. Bn Incr. Major Maguire assumed command of all troops and each Unit CO reported his unit and strength status.

The Latimer and Donner were scheduled to sail on Sunday, 25 May, but due to the difficulties encountered in receiving our Cargo and Troop Supplies, sailing was delayed until Monday, 26 May. The cargo picture was particularly bad since little effort had been made by HRPE to assemble cargo force-marked into any semblance of order. Major White and Captains Kisch and Dailey were assigned the detail of scanning the entire port area for any and all items belonging to those units of TF #1. Cargo was found in every conceivable place in HRPE, including piles already under tarps. Further, there was no way to circumvent the channels through which the movement of any article of cargo had to pass. As a result, many hours and much labor were wasted in unnecessary documentation to move cargo from an area far removed from Pier Two directly to shipside. Cooperation of Port Personnel left much to be desired. Captain Hunter, having been appointed as Supply Officer, was on the job at HRPE since 19 May and had received very little assistance from port personnel in getting what cargo was missing shipped to the port.

On 26 May, the day of our sailing, two events characteristic of HRPE activities with regard to Operation Sunac occurred. One – Lt. Byrd of the 557^th T Hvy Trk Co, was sent to Ft. Eustis to pick up 4 Marmite cans, 2 each for the two Task Teams concerned. Four cans had been procured from Fort Monroe through the efforts of Col. Sherman, Sub-Port Commander, but these had been erroneously loaded on the SS William Ford Nichols by TOD, HRPE. By time error was discovered. Marmite Cans were buried under tons of cargo and were to be returned from Goose Bay, the said ships destination. Two – 35 minutes before sailing time, 3 field safes and Acetyline and Oxygen in Tanks were delivered to shipside, through the efforts of Sub-Port Officers. The latter had been located by Major White the previous night and the former were delivered to HRPE only an hour and a half prior to loading.

Task Team One sailed from HRPE at 1315 hours, 26 May 1952.

Administrative procedures were set up as follows:

1^st Lt. B Kessler, having been assigned as Administrative Officer for Task Team, established liaison between Task Team and Naval Officers concerned with Housekeeping, Messing and other Facilities in order to relieve respective Commanding Officers of those petty details. Pay for Army personnel was disbursed by Naval Officer responsible on 31 May 1952.

Lighterage, messing and other details incident to the operation were resolved by Major Maguire and the Captain of the Latimer, Captain Allen, after several conferences.

On 27 May, Major Maguire held the first meeting for all Task Team Officers, Key Non-Coms, and Naval Officers of the Beachmasters Unit assigned to Task Team, during which he acquainted them with the overall operation and recommended their reading the Operation Sunac publication (Army). Subsequent meetings, conferences and training periods were held for the benefit of personnel involved in the Administration and/or Supervisory control of the operation.

Task Team One arrived at their first site N-26 (St. Anthony) on 1 June at 1430 hours and departed for their second site N-28 (Hopedale) at 0800Q, 1 July 1952.

Additional detail by Bernard Kessler

The task team spent the month of June 1952 in St. Anthony. There is an official report and a number of photos available on this web site which cover the task team operations at that location. We then proceeded to Hopedale for the month of July 1952. Regretably, I do not have an official report for the operations that took place while we were at Hopedale. I was relieved from duty while in Hopedale and out of the service by 24 July 1952 so I do not have any knowledge of what took place after my departure.

It is interesting to note, in one of the photos available on this web site, that someone is walking around amongst the dogs. We were told never to walk amongst them unless there was at least two people present. I listened.

What I did read about Hopedale - during the winter of 52/53 - was that the government had to drop wood fuel for stoves because the natives had been employed by the Operation and did not have time to gather wood during the summer for use in the winter. We had, apparently, in good faith, interrupted a normal seasonal event cycle which led to this hardship - economic events not withstanding.

Aside from the rumor mill, I do believe that we learned sometime while we were in Hopedale (July 1952) that the proposed activity at Chidley, originally scheduled for August 1952, might be postponed. The time delays in Hopedale and the anticipated weather made the Chidley operation somewhat questionable.

As we all know, there was an official change in location and the N-30 site, originally scheduled to be located at Chidley, ended up at Resolution Island. I have no knowledge of what led to this change but there is logic to the events. Perhaps Chidley was scratched in 1952 because the planners felt that Resolution Island would proved to be a better location for N-30 - from both an operational and a logistical point of view.