One of the most outstanding events in the history of Truro has happened on the eve of its
Golden Jubilee, when the Minister of National Defense, Hon. H. Mcl. Rogers, announced that a
military camp, capable of accommodating 20,000 men, was to be constructed at Debert, by the
Department of National Defense, as headquarters for the Third Canadian Division of the active
Service Force.
    At 6 a.m. on the cool, foggy morning of Friday, August 9, 1940, the 18th Field Company, of
the Royal Canadian Engineers from Hamilton, Ont., under the command of Major V.S.
Thompson, arrived at Debert Station. They came with food and equipment, military supplies,
traveling kitchens and tools. They marched to the Debert plain and there laid the cornerstone for
the large modern camp. About two hours after their arrival they were joined by the 16th Field
Company from Montreal, and a few days later by the 6th Field Company from Vancouver, B.C.
    These sturdy engineers had a very short warning of the move. Most of them had only a few
hours to say goodbye to their wives and families. Some whose homes were at a distance were
unable to see them at all. It can be imagined, with what glee (?) the men started on the job of
grubbing out small stumps from the path of the bulldozers, the powerful machines employed in
the process of clearing.
    The first day was spent clearing ground for tents, used for housing men and stores. At the end
of the day the tents were pitched and everyone settled before night fall.
    After a few days the Companies proceeded to clear areas for permanent camp sites and to
supervise construction of lumber store houses and the erection of camp buildings, not without
discomfort, however, for the canvas tents provided little shelter from the deluge of fall winds
and rain, which beat into the broken top soil turning the surface into a mire. ...
    Today, after 6 months, the work fairly well completed is acknowledged to have been the
greatest anywhere in Canada in a long time. The whole face of the landscape has been changed
from a plain, covered with trees and small growth, into a modern military city, with well built
roads, electric lights, telephones, sewers, rinks, recreational centers and so on.
    The greater portion of the tract of the plain was cleared and burned over, stumps and roots
removed and new surfaces laid down. Millions of feet of lumber, tons of cement, miles of sewer
pipes, water pipes, electrical wire and roofing materials steadily poured into Debert day after
day, week after week, and month after month --everything well timed and coordinated.
    The boundaries of the Camp encompass an area of30 square miles. Many residents within this
area have had to sacrifice their homes to the government. Some of these homes have been life-
long dwellings. Cherished memories of years gone by dwell within their walls, but the steady
march of men in uniform remind them that our country is at war and no sacrifice is too great to
help defend Canada and our glorious British Empire, and civilization itself
    The engineering project has been in the charge of Capt. C.S. Nicoll, of the Royal Canadian
Engineers, a native of Cape Breton, who was stationed at Halifax prior to coming to Debert.
Capt. Nicoll was formerly in charge of construction at Aldershot Camp, N.S. The Captain had a
wonderful organization under him, with Mr. Beardsley as Assistant Superintendent.
    A.C. McCabe, of Toronto, was on the job as a slasher of red tape. He saved time by giving
decisions that would ordinarily have gone to Ottawa for the last word an thus hold up the works.
Mr. McCabe is a Nova Scotian, a nephew of Mrs. Allan Daniel of Halifax, and a cousin of Dr.
H.L. Deaniel, 44 Queen Street, Truro. Mr. McCabe is director of one of Canada's large lumber
and construction companies and has for some time been giving his wide experience to the
government without remuneration.
    Private homes in Truro and the village of Debert have been opened to house laborers, who are here from every town, village and community in the Maritime provinces, and wherever there is a portion of a roof we find temporary dwellings. As many as 6,300 civilian employees have been on the payroll at Debert during a working day. Because many of them move with their wives and families to Truro and Debert, the shortage of dwelling accommodations became acute. The housing shortage was accentuated when the troops moved into Camp, bringing their wives and families east with them.
    The main portion of the camp is situated on the Debert plain and is bounded approximately on
the North by the highway which runs between Belmont and Debert, (and which runs through the
Camp) on the East by the highway turning right at McKinley's Store, running from the main
Truro-Arnherst highway and joining the Debert-Belmont highway, on the South by the Truro-
Arnherst highway, and on the West by the railway to Debert Coal Mine. The main entrance of
the Camp is approximately 900 yards west of the Ishgonish Bridge turning right off the main
Truro-Arnherst highway. This entrance road has recently been constructed and joins the former
MacElmon Road, which has been widened, straightened and graded, in preparation for hard
surfacing.

THE CAMP LAY -OUT
    The Camp is laid out in streets and avenues, the streets run parallel in one direction and are
numbered. The avenues run parallel at right angles to the streets ans are named. Each street and
avenue is lined on both sides with huts, mess halls, canteens and a warehouse, all of which are
numbered and cover ground as far as the eye can see.
    The huts are one storey buildings and are of Canadian standard construction, similar to those
which are constructed at Aldershot Camp. They are of wood with the inside finish of wood
sheathing on the walls and wall boards on the ceilings. The outside of the hut is covered with
roofing material.
    Accommodation in each hut varies from 75 to 500 depending upon the size of the hut. Each
building is electrically lighted. The sleeping and living quarters are equipped with hot and cold
running water, showers, lavatories, washrooms, drying rooms and standard double decker steel
bunks. The huts are heated with coal stoves.
    A regular sewage system is installed in the Camp. Machinery has been used to dig the troughs
in which the main sewer pipe is laid. The machine digs a ditch 18 inches wide and 6 feet deep at
a rate of a mile and a quarter and a mile and a half per week. A minimum of 3 miles of main
sewer pipe, 24 inches in diameter, was needed with the additional miles and miles of smaller
pipe which empty into the mains. The sewage is chemically treated in settling tanks and when
through, the beds are turned into the bay. The sewage is so throughly discriminated, that the
water is practically clear as it goes into the rivers, emptying into the Cobequid.
    A modern water supply system has been installed. Four wells have been bored averaging 150
feet in depth, the water which is for domestic use as well as sewage. Four water tanks, having
the capacity of 50,000 gallons each, have been erected on tresselled towers, standing on concrete foundations. These towers range in elevation from 20 feet to 120 feet, according to the
topography of their location.
    The Camp has its own postal unit. Two modern office buildings have been constructed' along the lines of the huts. Each office is manned by a capable staff, and in spite of the fact that an
enormous quantity of postal matter passes through these offices, the speed and efficiency of the
staff is high.
    The Canadian National Telegraph and the Maritime Telephone Company are operating full
fledged offices in the Debert Military area.
    The Y.M.C.A., Knights of Columbus, Canadian Legion and The Salvation Army deserve every bit of praise that can be meted out to them on the comfortable, spacious, clean, homelike and welcome buildings that have been constructed on the Camp as a service to the troops. These
buildings are in keeping with the style of construction of the rest of the Camp, only they are
many times larger.
    Each building is equipped with an Auditorium, capable of seating 800 to 1,000 men, a motion
picture machine, ping-pong rooms, lounges, reading rooms, washrooms, lavatories and canteens.
These usually hold a varied program of entertainment each evening through the week with
divine worship for the troops on the Sabbath.
    The former Y.M.C.A. building on the corner of Pleasant and Prince Streets in Truro, has been
remodelled and renovated and is now the Red Triangle Club, operated by the Y.M.C.A. along
the same line as those in the Camp.
    In the Village of Debert, businessmen from all points in the Maritimes, have erected
restaurants, drug stores, billiard halls, tea rooms, tailor shops, grocery stores, meat markets and
other lines of business to cater to the thousands of troops and civilians which are in this area.
Day by day, more outsiders arrive, and more buildings go up. Never in all its history has
Debert played host to so many people in so short a time. Some welcomed the change but many --
particularly the older folks who have lived here all their lives in the quietness of the peaceful
little village, find it hard to adapt themselves to the hustle and bustle of the steady stream of
traffic which lines the village from early morning to midnight. The feelings of the residents may
be found in the following poem, which was written by a Debert citizen:

"Farewell, old Debert,
Welcome the new/
If our country needs you
What shall we do?
Sit and think of by gone days,
And pine for what we've lost?
No -answer King and Country's call,
No matter what the cost.
Old Debert is passing o ' er ,
A new one will arise,
May he who blessed us in the past
Watch o'er us from the skies,
And if the quietness of our village,
"Midst the noise and strife be tossed,
We'll answer King and Country's call
No matter what the cost."

Development of Airport has brought Transportation at Debert

    The summer of 1891 was hot and dry. Across the plains, adjacent to the village of Debert, a
cooling breeze was blowing from over the Bay, leaving clouds of red dust which arose from
parched cultivated plots and the roadway from Debert to Masstown. A dozen or more coal
miners had gathered around the station to await the arrival of the express train for Saint John.
    A mile or so along the road to Masstown, a herd of cows was grazing in a clearing on the left.
On both sides of the road, dense forest and low bushes stretched to the horizon from here to
there by a clearing where a flock of sheep or a few cows could be seen. Few fences restrained
their wand rings, other than those along the Intercolonial Railway Line, or an occasional pole
fence marking the boundary of a garden.
    Along the roadway, in which the children were playing, gentlemen of means rode in carriages
drawn by well groomed horses, while the less fortunate traveled by on foot. At the general store,
the proprietor and a half a dozen or more villagers were absorbed in heated discussion on Th
laying of the Atlantic Cable. The whole scene portrays a happy and thriving little community.
    A little over forty-five years later the scene has changed somewhat. Much more land has been
cleared and fenced. The gentlemen of means travel in new cars while the poorer and less
fortunate get along with a horse and buggy or an automobile of earlier vintage. Roads have been
improved.
    A mile or so along the road to Masstown, a herd of cows are grazing in the clearing on the left
just as their grand sires and great grand sires did in 1891, but their pasture has become much
defined by fences. A dozen or more villagers are awaiting the arrival of the Maritime Express at
the Canadian National Railway Station and the sons and grandsons of former residents are
discussing politics in the several general stores. On the whole, however, in spite of change
through the years the scene portrays, still, a happy and thriving community, but not for long.
    A year or so later the peaceful little village is suddenly awakened with the stark realization that it is to mushroom over night into a military city, and is to witness a transformation the like of
which would ordinarily require years of toil and endeavor .
    The first sod was turned at Debert Airport in the same little clearing a mile or so along the
Masstown Road, which had provided food and sustenance for the generations of bovines to
become a major link in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.
    Today , February 1941, the Airport is in the final stages of completion. It has three runways,
laid out on the ground to form a triangle, each side of which is 4,200 feet in length, the width of
each runway being 500 feet. The sides of the triangle overlap one another and lie approximately
in the direction facing North, North East, North West and East West.
    The airport is bounded on the North by the highway running from Belmont to Debert, on the
east by the military camp, on the south by the main Truro-Amherst Highway, and on the west by
the Debert-Masstown Highway.
    The grading of the runways required an earth excavation of over 200,000 cubic yards, and a
fill of over 300,000 cubic yards. The material for the grading was obtained from the great pits in
the vicinity. Steam shovels have made a considerable dent in the landscape, on the tract of land
on the right side of the Debert-Masstown Road.
    The grading has been completed and a seal of coat of tar and sand mixture was applied as the
finishing surface. Raynor Construction Company has the contract for the building of the airport.
    Walter Hall is Chief Engineer in charge of building the airport. Mr. Hall is a native of Sheet
Harbour. He, of his own efforts, worked himself through college and, alone, climbed the ladder
to his profession. He has been at Debert for a couple of years. He and his family have a large
place in the and have the respect of Debert.
    In addition to the runways, two air training schools are in the process of completion. They are
the Reconnaissance School and the Navigation School.

Reconnaissance School
    The Reconnaissance School for the Royal Canadian Air Force, is on the road from Debert
Village to Masstown. This project is featured by three large hangars which seem to dwarf
everything else around. The Quarters for the Airmen are very attractive on the outside, having
been finished in brown-stained shingles with green trim.
    Twenty-three of these buildings were constructed by the Acme Construction Company of
Saint John, at a cost of about $372,000. These buildings average about 150 by 50 feet, and are
for Officers, Officers Mess, sleeping quarters and a Hospital.
    The Storms Contracting Company has a large contract worth about $337,000. They are
responsible for the three large Aeroplane Hangars, 265 by 160 feet, a photographic building, 60
by 30 feet, a Gunnery Instruction School, 190 by 40 feet, an Aeroplane Workshop, 125 by 30
feet and a machine gun butt, with a range of twenty-five yards, with a firing platform for an
aeroplane.
    This butt consists of a concrete wall twenty-five feet high, with target boards and space between, filled with earth and other material to stop bullets from ricocheting. Twenty-five yards away is the gun shelter.
    The Aeroplane Hangars are the largest and the most interesting of the Storms constructions.
There is a concrete flooring throughout the building, covered with battleship linoleum in the
offices and locker rooms. Smaller buildings attached to the side of the large building contain
locker rooms, offices on one side and on the other side is a parachute room, containing one
hundred lockers for parachuters. There is also what is called a parachute drip, where parachutes
are hung to dry out after being wet. They are raised and lowered by pulleys.
    On one side of the hangar above the offices, and the locker rooms, there are more storeys,
forming what is known as the Control Tower Section. This tower contains rooms 33 feet by 20,
for offices etc. the fourth floor is the Tower Proper and is all enclosed in glass. It is used mainly
as an observation post.
    On the other side of the building beside the parachute rooms are rooms to be used as part of a
general workshop for repairing and replacing parts.
    At the peak of the work there were about three hundred and fifty employed by this company.
The work was started the middle of November.
    The hangars are said to be large enough to each hold one hundred fighting planes, with tails
up, or twelve large bombers on three point and wings spread.
    The large supporting pillars of the building are made of sturdy wood in steel and concrete
foundations. The large door where the planes enter off the concrete runways and taxi strip are
worked by means of pulley chains.
    The Airmen's quarters were constructed by the Acme Construction Company, are perhaps the
nicest appearing buildings in the Camp, with their stained shingles and green trimmings,
hardwood floors and up to the minute equipment inside. They are heated by electrically operated
stokers, which when set at a medium temperature need be attended only about once a day.
    The large mess hall is equipped with two large cooking stoves, three large steaming vats, and
seven stokers. These stokers cost about $375.00 each.
    The eight bay garages in connection with the school are finished on the outside with
corrugated iron, of silver color .
    One large building containing sleeping quarters is equipped with eight stokers and eighteen
lights. The quarters in the form of an "H" have two sections each about 150 feet long and 30 feet
wide. Eighteen powerful lights range up and down each section. The color scheme on the inside
of these buildings is stained buff wains coating, with ochre shade for the background.
    The window trimmings inside are in fawn and on the outside in green. There are twenty-four
wash houses in connection with this one building containing a dozen individual lavatories and a
drying room also connected with this building, which has several others just like it.
    All the above mentioned buildings have sheet rock finishing inside, fully equipped with wash
basins and lavatories and where required, showers. The Reconnaissance School has its own
sewage system, separate from the rest of the military camp. There is also a large parade ground
in connection with this school, which is to be leveled off in the spring.
    Another large project in the same vicinity is the Navigation School at the Debert Cross Roads. Work on this project was started about the end of November. Among the construction companies that are connected with the building of this school are the Tomilson Company of Toronto, the Dominion Bridge, R.A. Corbett and the Rayner Construction Company.
    The Rayner Company has charge of most of the paving work. The Tomilson Company had the
contract for the three hangars, 265 by 160 feet, which have accommodation for about one
hundred fighting planes. The workshops are about thirty feet by one hundred feet. The machine
gun firing shelter is twelve feet by sixty-five feet.
    The work started late in November and most of the buildings are completed except for the
finishing touches inside. All the buildings are built around the large parade ground. R.A. Corbett
Company had the contract for the construction of about twenty buildings, quite a number of
them being the "H" shaped ones.
    Some of the largest are about 120 feet long by thirty feet wide in each of the two long sections
of the "H", others range 91 feet by twenty-four feet. Among the buildings are: an administrating
building, two officers quarters, officers mess, airmen mess, N.C.O. mess, no airmen quarters,
large canteen, eight bay garage, nine bay garage, M. T. section-eight bay garage, repair shop,
station sick quarters, guard house and post office.
    Taking both these schools, the quarters are most up-to-date and every modem convenience
has been or is being installed. The buildings are most attractive both inside and out.
    A vast upheaval has changed everything that but a short while ago was the contented and quiet
village of Debert.