Operation SUNAC

1952 – Operation SUNAC – David E Morton

Saturday, 1 November 1952

November first still finds some of us on Baffin Island. Part of the Engineers’ detachment remains, and we have been visited by the detachments of TC and Ordnance people who have done an almost heroic job in unloading and winterizing vehicles while the harbor is filled with large chunks of ice.

I was able to purchase a few more ivory pieces from the Eskimos – a small sea bird, another small walrus head, and seal head ring. Also, a trip was made over to the Hudson Bay Co. trading post some three miles away to see a sick Eskimo woman. She is wasted and dyspneic, and probably has pulmonary tuberculosis. Today ten men helped to carry her over here to the RCAF Dispensary – over the snow covered hills adjoining the head of Frobisher Bay.

The weather has given us a bit of a buffeting also. For the past 36 hours we have had wind gusts of 40 to 60 miles per hour directly from the north, with the thermometer ranging between zero and +10 degrees F. At one time the moon and sun were partially obscured by the finely powdered, flying snow.

The last few days have been occupied with the many tedious medical reports. But there has been time for some reading. The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway’s latest, is short and quite good – about an old Cuban fisherman’s battle with a large fish and life in general.

The food continues to be excellent and free to us! However, the quarters are somewhat chilly. It seems possible now that we shall be pulling out near the end of the coming week, but in the Army one can never be sure.

This week was rapid and eventful. Early in it TWXs passed between here and Goose Bay authorized us to move the medical detachment back to CONUS. And on election night we heard about Eisenhower and the Republicans getting in, which pleased most everyone.

The following evening a Fraser-Brace man was killed when struck by a cable, which sprung over an ice hammock while a tractor was pulling a barge over the ice. This entailed an attempt to revive the poor man with his crushed chest, followed by a simply ridiculous number of board meetings and paper work. They were so ridiculously meticulous that we had to correct typographical mistakes on the report, and each officer of the board had to initial them.

On another evening a low-flying plane circled here and did not answer, or did not answer comprehensibly our radio requests for identification. The CO made light of it, but most of us were concerned by the possible implications.

Van, the Mountie, gave me some very interesting pamphlets on the Canadian Arctic which made interesting reading. I had forgotten that Martin Frobisher had explored this region as early as 1585, and that Leif Ericson was here about 1000 AD!

The last part of the week was a mad scramble to complete our 12 odd final medical reports, including the report to Colonel Konton for his Annual Report of Medical Service Activities (10 pages in hexriplicate). Packing has also had to be completed for our readiness date of 8 November. This was done in weather of –10º to +5º F. Sun rises at 8:00 am., sets at 3:00 pm.

A week of waiting has passed. Major Sooner and some of the TC boys left on the RCAF Dakota last Monday. We sat on here with movement preparations all made and very little left to do except read and throw darts. There were several good games of chess also with Douglas Tesch, who is very good, and a few better-than-average movies. We have also been catching up on our sleep.

In addition to Indiana University’s offer of an assistant professorship in anatomy, paying $5,000.00 to $6,000.00 per year, the new medical school at Miami University in Coral Gables, Florida, has sent out a feeler.

The days get shorter and shorter. Now we have about six hours of sunlight, from 8:30 am. to 2:30 pm. last afternoon the sun dipped below the southwest hills, leaving a flaming sunset, offset by an azure blue sky behind, while the dark blue arctic night crept in from the northeast. Even at noon the sun does not get up more than 20 degrees above the southern horizon. It was a bit warmer this week, however.

Bob Van Norman gave me a set of his very interesting photographs taken while he was on duty at Pond Inlet on the northern end of Baffin Island during 1950 and 1951.

The new USAF and RCAF COs have arrived. We hope that they will put a stop to the disgraceful alcoholic debauching which has been reigning her for several weeks.

We hope that the transportation for our evacuation will be available shortly.

Things went quietly for the first few days of the week. There were a few brief, interesting lessons in meteorology, and Douglas Tesch taught me how to play a fast card game called briscola.

Then Tuesday evening a Navy MATS plane suddenly whisked us up in the air at 5:30 pm., and we landed in Goose Bay some 3 ½ hours later. After a two hour delay there we headed for the States. After 4 ½ hours we were over Westover AFB, Mass., but were not allowed to land because of ground fog. After two hours of circling, we went on to Boston where we had to go through customs. Several hours later we made it into Westover. Then a trying seven hours ensued in which we had to straighten out the shipment of our equipment, getting tickets, etc. We caught the bus to Springfield, where we parted from the 973^rd Engineers and Bill Harvey. The train and bus trip to Camp Kilmer were not too bad, and we arrived at about 11:30 pm., tired after 30 sleepless, trying hours, but glad to be back.

The remainder of the week was spent with the endless red tape of attempting to understand our confused supply position, getting paid for October, etc. Sgt. Noll left no word as to how the disposition of equipment progressed.

The weekend was pleasantly spent with Hal and Jeanne in New York City. They have a nice apartment in Stuyvesant Town, and two nice black cats. We went through Hal’s surgical section of the huge Bellevue Hospital, and had a nice time exchanging experiences of the past year.