AN INDIE IS:
Wartime Brandon, 1940
10th Street and Rosser Avenue, 1940. photo: Heritage Brandon
The Wheat City Arena, shown here in 1938, became an RCAF Manning Depot in 1940. photo: Heritage Brandon
These airmen are headed back to their RCAF base at the Manning Depot. photo: Manitoba Signature Museums.
In the summer of 1939 news dispatches from Europe carried frightening portents of the threat of war.
Rumours took on a more permanent form on the morning of September 1 when the 71st Battery was mobilized and ordered to stand guard on the waterworks.
Within a matter of weeks, sugar rationing was in effect.
The provincial exhibition buildings were turned over to the military.
By early 1940, Brandon had a self-contained army encampment inside the corporate limits.
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Four complete city blocks, from Ninth to Thirteenth streets between Queen’s and Richmond avenues comprised the 101st Militia Training Camp.
The investment in war not only required men and women for the services, but it also provided employment for hundreds of tradesmen.
Brandon’s civic records reveal that building permits were issued in 1941 for ‘barracks’ to a value of $97,000.
The following year a permit valued at $120,000 was issued for ‘army huts’
In next year still another permit, valued at $100,000, was required for ‘8 frame huts and hospital’
All of this construction was under the direction of the Royal Canadian Artillery Training Centre.
The city core was the site of another service.
The Wheat City Arena became an RCAF Manning Depot, virtually a complete community inside a series of connecting buildings.
There was a barber shop, tailor shop, post office, wet and dry canteens, and a 600-seat cafeteria.
They were all adjacent to the main arena, which became an indoor parade square.
During wartime this arena was generally closed to the public, but at least once during hostilities it was filled to capacity.
That was when Gracie Fields appeared in concert.
Before peace returned, tens of thousands of young airmen received their introduction to the Royal Canadian Air Force through the Manning Depot.
During this same period, a one-section plot of land north of the city was being transformed into the local headquarters of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.
A dispatch in the Brandon Sun reported that the new facility, when completed, would be equipped with ‘airdromes, hangars and quarters for about 1000 men.’
By midsummer of 1940, every aspect of Brandon’s social and cultural life was under the influence of this continuing invasion of service personnel.
Before the war was a year old, twenty local teachers had joined up, and two churches were looking for ministers to replace departing members of the clergy.
Even the traditional month for brides came under military influence.
In mid-June Brandon witnessed the first service wedding, when an army chaplain officiated at the nuptials of Private Victoria Andronic and Bombardier G. G. Stewart.
Even in this case there could be no mistaking the khaki influence.
The social note announcing this historic first said that the lovebirds left the church “in a decorated gun-carriage drawn by a jeep:’
Two artillerymen escorted them to the railway depot.
– excerpt from The Wheat City: A Pictorial History of Brandon by
Fred McGuinness
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LASTING IMAGE
Your history is important. Get it out of the drawer!
Three generations of family military history in one neat package.
Today’s Throwback
Commonwealth Air Training Plan Hangar, 1941
The Hangar was constructed in 1941 for use as a training facility during WWII.
This image depicts the hangar shortly after it was built.
Source: Peel’s Prairie Provinces, a digital initiative of the University of Alberta Libraries
ROLLING SPOKES
Bath Safety
Whether it’s a walk-in bathtub, a simple shower head, a portable bath-lift or just a set of grab rails, staff at Rolling Spokes have the experience and knowledge to help you find the safe solution for all your bathing needs.
Do you need a multivitamin?
Corey Calverly, co-owner, Hedley’s Health Hut
Clearly, the best way to get nutrients such as vitamins and minerals is through a healthy diet.
Fruits and vegetables, legumes, lean meats, fish and dairy products are among the foods most dense in nutrients for maintaining daily health.
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The vitamins and minerals found in these foods are in a form that our bodies recognize and easily absorb.
While this is the ideal situation, a multivitamin can play a role in our daily lives for a number of reasons:
• Daily diet realities: While the diet outlined above sounds wonderful, it’s rarely reality.
Most of us deal with busy schedules and don’t always eat the way we should.
Processed foods that are high in unhealthy fats and sugars, dominate our culture and are designed to appeal to our taste buds not our nutritional health.
A multivitamin can act as insurance to make sure our body is getting the base amount of vitamins and minerals every day for optimal health, no matter what direction the day’s diet goes.
• Stress: The modern Canadian lifestyle is stressful.
Balancing family and work demands combined with insufficient sleep and relaxation leaves our bodies, minds and immune systems vulnerable to running down.
Getting consistent nutritional support can help us get through unexpected or prolonged stressful periods.
• High performance: Those of us who are active and working out physically (or mentally) at high levels demand more out of our bodies.
This extra activity uses up more nutrients.
A multivitamin can help to top up even a healthy diet to help our body perform at its upper potential.
HEDLEY’S HEALTH HUT
