I know that Goose Bay was my birthplace,as well as that of my sister,the one that is younger than me by a year.But what of the time before?Most of that knowledge was from my parents stories,but there is also a few pictures that my parents kept on slides.I've seen them all many times.Because of it's northern location there are,of course pictures of Goose Bay under a blanket of snow.And there are pictures of the road,a muddy quagmire.And there are even a few pictures of Goose Bay that don't feature mud or snow.As I recall,there was at least one photograph showing the snow removal equipment at the airport and there was a lot of it.Either as a testament to there being a lot of snow,or there being a vital need to clear runways quickly and efficiently,or more likely both.There was a picture of a parade too,in which I recall,some of that same snow removal equipment was used to haul the floats.I never was clear on what the occasion for the parade was.From all of the pictures that I can remember of Goose Bay,it very much had the look of military bases just about anywhere.The same kind of warehouse looking buildings,guard shacks with big striped gates,army trucks and jeeps everywhere and uniformed personnel walking about.There were planes too,as Goose Bay was an air force base,but not so many.A few jets lined up on a tarmac,ancient looking now but state of the art when the photos were taken.All in all,my parents did a decent job of documenting their stay in Canada's north,if only in a kind of ordinary way.
My father told many stories of Goose Bay,though I only recall a few.I think it must have been in the days before he met my mother,but he tells of meeting a preacher once in the shower room of the army barracks.For some reason he became angered by something during his shower and cut loose with a torrent of colorful language in the best traditions of coal miners anywhere,some of whom can be rather plain spoken.The preacher,showering in another stall introduced himself while they were drying off later,and noticed,"you certainly know how to swear."My father said that despite the incident he and the preacher became good friends and he noted the incident was "embarrassing."I believe the first time I heard him tell that story he was embarrassed at having told it in front of his children,as swearing was not exactly what you would most like to brag about to impressionable children.I've often wondered why he used such foul language in those days,as he tried to keep a civil tongue when at home.Tried but did not always succeed.It could have been boys being boys,or something bigger fueling the foul mouth.I've heard that military personnel have been known for colorful outbursts from time to time so maybe it was just being young and part of the culture.
At one time my father owned a taxi in Goose Bay,though I don't know when he would ever get the time to drive it.Most of his fares he said were between the Canadian and American bases.I'm sure there must have been liquor runs too.though I'm less certain that they involved a liquor store. Likely what his taxi business consisted of was picking up a few worse for wear soldiers each day,during the hours he was not working but still awake.It's unlikely he provided 24 hour service,as I don't recall him mentioning hiring another driver for the cab.The enterprise could not have made a huge profit.To look at Goose Bay in pictures,it hardly looks like the place where a lot of people would take taxis,though I'm certain the mud and drunkenness could make the short appearing walk across base unattractive.
There were things in Goose Bay the apparently most people were not intended to see.My father makes mention of having seen several helicopters inside a hanger long before they came into common use.They were,a number of them, visiting the American side of the base when they saw these helicopters partly hidden by tarps.How they managed to gain clearance to an American base during the cold war is anyone's guess,but it seems that at least some of the things being kept there were not all that secret.My father did make a comment late in the 1980's or maybe the early 1990's that I found astonishing.We were watching some footage of the new stealth bomber/fighter on television when he told me "I saw one of those in Goose Bay in 1956."My father was familiar with aircraft in general and military aircraft in particular and it seems odd to think if he had seen one of those,that he would have mistaken it for something else.Still he had very little sense of amazement later in life when he saw one again,so perhaps new,bizarre and cutting edge equipment were not so unusual in the Goose Bay of the 1950's.Still.I have no idea as to how my father would have encountered such equipment.
I'm sure the north was a grand adventure for a young boy from Nova Scotia and that is what my father was when he first came to Goose Bay.He worked there for just over ten years as I understand it,as a civilian employee of the Canadian Armed Forces.His job was to operate and maintain a power generating station for the base,a job he held even after being transferred to New Brunswick in the early 1960's.He left Goose Bay to visit Jamaica in the mid 1950's,then again to marry my mother in her home town in 1959,and for the final time in 1962 or early 1963,after both my sister and I were born.
Now aside from all this I have no memory of Goose Bay.I hear of people saying they can remember things in infancy,though I confess,I do not.I do not believe such things are likely.So history,my parents stories and some old photographs are all that constitute my own knowledge of Goose Bay.And,in fact I no longer even have the photographs.
No comments:
Post a Comment