ITEM #519
My Memories Of The Camp
By H. Long
6717 22nd. Ave. Edmonton Alta. T6K2H
 I noticed in the last Legion Magazine that you wanted memories of the Debert Camp during the
war, so here we go.
I was 19 years old. We landed from Saskatoon, the month, I am not sure, Sept. or Oct. 1940. We were the first Regiment to arrive in the Camp. Regina Rifle Regiment.
I still remember getting off the train in Debert. it was not raining heavy, but just very light. We lined up with our gear, big pack, small pack, webbing, kit bag and rifle. Altogether, I think it was 96 pounds. The roads into the Camp at the time were very poor. They marched us to the Camp, I remember carrying that weight. I thought we were never going to get there, but we finally arrived
and each Company was assigned to an H- Hut.
The huts were built on stilts and it looked as if it had been a spruce swamp and had been cleared of the trees in winter. The small stumps were about 6 to 8 inches high and they were all around the building, so the first job we had was clearing all the stumps around our area. Then we had to work on a parade ground, pulling all the stumps, then taking shovels and leveling the ground off. The water and sewer had not been completed yet, so all the trenches for the water lines were open around the buildings, and the sewer line was wide open. So we had no water to bathe for a whole week. The water was hauled in tanks to the kitchen. A couple of us sneaked down to a small creek and showered and washed.
The next time we went, there was a sign "OUT OF BOUNDS" by the medical officer. The toilets of course were at the end of the line, about 100 yards away. But, anyway, finally got the water hooked up. We were two weeks not allowed out of the Camp to Truro. Then our Regiment was hit with measles, so it was another week before we could go out of the Camp. By this time the Winnipeg Rifles and the Canadian Scottish Regiments had moved in. This making up the 7th. Brigade of the 3rd. Division. Then, later came the North Nova Scotia Regiment, the Glengarries, The Duke Of York Hussars and anyway, nearly all the 3rd. Division moved in. There was not
much to do around the Camp for awhile.
Then, later, they built a drill hall and then they showed movies Throughout the winter, of course were training exercises The area of course was full of those blackened little stumps We had to go crawling around them and we used to wear fatigue clothes, which of course was nearly white from scrubbing because every night we had to wash them because of the inspection next morning The first big march we had was in the Spring or Summer of 1941. We marched to Pugwash, 75 miles It took two and one half days We slept in a field along the side of the road the first day The second, we slept along the side of a lake The next day was Sat We arrived at noon and our platoon was billeted in a school We were off till Monday morning, so we hitched to different towns around Monday they took us back to Debert Camp by trucks.
The next event that happened, I can truthfully say that I was not part of it, (I was not in Truro that night) You can find out more probably from the Truro Newspaper and from what I was told and can recollect, was a misunderstanding The Fair was in Truro June or July 1941 I am not sure of the month A soldier from the Duke Of York Hussars was at one of the gambling tents, got into an argument and the fellow running the gambling game, shot the soldier (I believe in the leg) Anyway, the next day, the hussars was out on an exercise and a solider got caught between a tree and a carrier and was killed The rumor got out that the solider that was shot had died.
So everyone was going around saying 9 o'clock and apparently at zero hour about 1000 came over the hill I am sending a print from a old photo a friend in Truro gave me that they took next day The whole day Camp was confined to the Camp for two weeks Then, after that, a Company of men from one of the regiments was sent to help police the city every night until we left for Europe The month, I am
not sure of, perhaps, August Our regiment over on the Empress Of Russia One thing we can be thankful for is that we are on the East Coast making up the 3rd Division because, shortly after is when that division was sent to Hong Kong I am sending you a print of our cap badge You will notice now it says Royal Regina Rifles Royal was added after the war. Also, 56 was our tactical sign I do hope you can read my writing and that it gives you an idea what the Camp Debert was like in 1940 to the first ones to move in.

Yours
truly,

H. Long