Mrs. Lucas and I arrived at Sioux Lookout Air Force Station early in July 1957. Major Vincent Nash was the Commander at that time and the 915th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron was a well organized and efficient unit. Before my departure for Sioux Lookout, I reviewed reports and concluded that two areas offered opportunity for improvement of operational capability - personal supply and morale. However, the 915th was blessed with some extremely competent officers in the fields of operation, maintenance and communication. There was also a solid core of equally competent and dedicated noncommissioned officers. What more could a new commander ask?
A two front campaign was mounted. The first was to better our personal supplies, with emphasis on arctic clothing and on foodstuffs. Regarding the latter, the appointment by the Canadian Army Supply Center in Winnipeg of a Lieutenant Colonel to the specific task of feeding the people all across the Pinetree Line was one of the best things that could have happened to us. He and my Mess Officer rapidly reduced our problems with staples, meats and fresh produce to practically zero.
The personal equipment problem did not go away so quickly, but the breakthrough, when it came, was just as dramatic. Division Headquarters staff scheduled an inspection of uniforms. Officers and men were to be inspected in ranks out of doors at 07:30 hours. Uniform was specified; Service blue with low quarter shoes and Service caps (these were items that everyone had). The time was late fall; there was snow on the ground and daytime temperatures were in the 20s. The inspecting party, which included the Commanding General, arrived the afternoon before. Overnight, however, the weather turned sour and morning saw us with a temperature well below zero. I pondered: here is an opportunity seemingly too good to pass up, and surely the health and comfort of the men were my responsibility regardless of who else might be on the base. So at 06:00 I countermanded the uniform order and directed that cold weather gear be worn. Sight of the motley crowd that assembled caused more than a little consternation. Some men were well outfitted. Some men had no arctic clothing at all and wore regular service uniforms. Others wore parkas of white, sage green or olive drab. Lengths were from too short to much too long and serviceability ranged from passable to virtually rags, but all were as they had been issued. The General called me aside and I fully expected to be relieved on the spot. To my infinite relief he said, "I see what you've been trying to tell me. Have the men return to barracks for standby inspection".
The second part of our campaign concerned community relations. Whatever the history, our men were not generally welcome in Sioux Lookout, nor did they by their actions especially deserve to be. Several different approaches were tried. The one that really started things moving was the completion of the curling rink on base. This was done with volunteer labor, airmen, officers and townsmen. The material was "scrounged" and donated by many sources, one of the most generous being the Beaver Lumber Company. While the rink was still being built, we formed the Commander's Community Advisory Council, calling upon leaders of the town of Sioux Lookout and the hamlet of Hudson to serve as advisors to me and assist in resolving our mutual problems. It helped immeasurably to make us a part of the community and toward having us accepted as such.
Another of our successes was the organization of the Art Club. Mrs. Lucas worked closely with Mr. A. Morris, of the railroad YMCA to get it going; Captains Edwin Klein and Robert Wilson donated their talents as instructors. (Examples of their work are the portraits in the Uren-Dadson Memorial Recreation Center). The Arts Club was a tremendous success, culminating in a combined exhibit at "The Y" from which a few items were selected to accompany a trans-Canada traveling art exhibit.
Another high spot was the Pinetree Review. This was a variety show sponsored by the base Wives' Club. Captain Joe Kennedy integrated and directed the various acts, bullyed and sweated it into being and then "emceed" it into a smashing hit. Scheduled for an afternoon and an evening performance at the Mayfair Theatre, it was called back literally by popular demand for another performance three weeks later. The Wives' Club donated half the profits to the Sioux Lookout Community Board, and a quarter of the profits to the Base Servicemen's Club. The community response and support of the Pinetree Review was almost unbelievable; merchants and business people donated their time and facilities and even a couple of acts on stage.
Meanwhile, back on the base, the curling rink had been completed and a Snack Bar operated by the Servicemen's Club was in operation. Arrangements were made to designate the building as a recreation center for year-round use and to dedicate it jointly in the memory of a Canadian and an American killed in action in World War II. Dedication ceremonies were held on 18 May 1958 in conjunction with our Armed Forces Day open house.
Also during the period, improvements had been made in the Airmen's Quarters and the Base Officer's Quarters. Previously the interior of all the buildings had been painted forest green; it was like living in a cave. In the winter, airmen tended to hibernate like bears and even developed the same personality traits. A contract was let to refurbish the hallways, stairwells and washrooms. "Rocky" Thompson, my civilian (Canadian) Base Engineer - bless him! - worked a deal with the contractor to substitute imitation marble for the cheap enameled Masonite specified for use as wainscoating throughout. Rocky assured me that it was all legal, or at least he thought it was, or at the very worst no one would ever be able to prove anything. We all agreed that it certainly was not immoral. Money was set aside from the Unit Fund to buy paint for the individual rooms and the airmen were allowed to select their own colors and do their own painting. There were really some popped eyeballs when next we were visited by the people from headquarters. The "unmilitary appearance" was reported to General Gillespie who, as I was told, asked "What is their operational capability?" A grudging "Superior". "How about morale?" "Outstanding". "I'll look at it." He did - the very next time he came up. The last thing I heard about the paint job, and the only thing he ever said to me about it was "Well, Luke, it IS different". Then we went fishing.
Another innovation that worked out well was our project list. I set up a small Board to consider every possible project to improve base facilities. Operational areas were given first priority, then support, then living area. When the list was completed we went over it with a critical eye, then everyone was solicited for additions. When I was satisfied that every possibility had been suggested, Rocky and his staff made up complete sets of plans and cost estimates for everything considered worthwhile.
For the next year and a half we lived "high on the hog" because we got more projects completed than any other station - nearly as many as all other United States Pinetree stations combined. The explanation was, simply, that quarterly and annual funds adjustments nearly always turn up some money that must be obligated quickly or returned for reallocation. We were prepared to respond within minutes to inquiries about our needs and to immediately obligate amounts varying from less than $100 up to several thousand on one or a combination of projects already engineered, costed and approved. By the time the authorities caught on, we had another gimmick.
Our television station came about because of the on-site representative of the company which held the maintenance contract for our radar gear. He calculated that we should be able to get reasonably good TV reception via reflection off the ionosphere. We gambled a small amount from the Unit Fund to erect a large rhombic antenna and did get a usable signal; more funds and some diligent scrounging resulted in more improvements. Summertime reception was not so good but boating, fishing and other activities compensated.
One could read this narrative and conclude that our operational mission was being systematically neglected. Not so; our operational capability showed continual improvement. Also, during this time our main radar (search) was upgraded, the Ops room dais was remodeled giving me a Battle Staff area, and sophisticated director consoles replaced the old, bar Planned Position Indicator scopes. We remained as a manual control site while sites to the south of us became Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE). As SAGE became operational through the northeastern United States, the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff directed a massive exercise to evaluate its effectiveness. Preliminary planning, coordinating and checking seemed to go on for months. We were the most northwesterly station involved, and only as an observation point. Then only days before the liability period for the "invasion", the 915th was added as a tasked unit. I believe we were the only manual site so designated. When the exercise was over, we had detected every aircraft that had penetrated our airspace, had controlled nearly three times as many interceptors as the planners expected us to call for and had achieved a better Mission Accomplished rate than most of the automated units. At last many others were repeating what we had been saying all along: "The 915th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, Tops on the Pinetree!"
In July 1959 my family and I left Sioux Lookout enroute to my next assignment. I was confident that the 915th was better able to fulfill its air defence mission than it had been two years before. The facilities on the base were considerably better than they had been. The living conditions of its people were measurably improved, and the base with its complement were now accepted as a part of the communities of Sioux Lookout and Hudson. We like to believe that our being a part of the scene for two years helped bring about those changes.
--Submitted by Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Lucas, former American Commander