Ernest Harmon Air Force Base
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US Military Bases in Eastern Canada: Harmon A.F.B.
Ernest Harmon Air Force Base: Construction
In 1953, the 347th (Engineer Aviation) battalion was assigned the immense task (along with 2,502 contractor personnel) of completing the 62 line construction projects on Ernest Harmon Air Force Base at Stephenville, Newfoundland. The base, situated on 8,159 acres of land at the Northeast end of St. Georges Bay was leased from the British government for 99 years in 1940 and closed down in 1966. Originally named Stephenville Air Base, it was renamed on the 23rd of June, 1941 in honor of Capt. Ernest Harmon.
The construction projects consisted of: completion of major runways of up to 222,000 square yards, taxiway and aprons of up to 421,000 square yards, and bomber aprons of heavy duty pavement up to 351,000 square yards, (the runway complex was so large that the e xisting harbor facilities had to be demolished to give proper clearance for aircraft); construction of fighter aircraft hangers and three boat docks and dredging of the existing harbor, which, when completed was 8000 feet long, 200 feet wide, and 35 feet deep; a flight control tower was built in September of 1953 along with four petroleum tanks with a capacity of 25,000-125,000 barrels of fuel.
Four hundred and forty-four 347th Engineers were already working on the base and were joined by the 750 engineers of their Battalion, who had left Florida and arrived at Harmon on June 23, 1953 to begin three of the projects: 1. The construction of a By- pass road (Hanson Highway) to prevent civilian access through the base (in progress since April, 1943), 2. The construction of a base salvage yard and 3. The construction of a trailer park for Harmon personnel.
The battalion was made up of four Company's; three Line Company's and one H&S (Headquarters and Service) Company. Company A was responsible for construction of the salvage yard and Company B and C were responsible for the construction of the By-pass road with a budget of $583,000.
The Salvage Yard, which was situated near Noels Pond on 30 acres, was finished to partial occupancy by the fall of 1954 and completed in 1955. Thirty Butler-Buildings were located on the property. The machinery which constructed the By-pass road was buried at the end of the property when it became over used and obsolete in 1959/6O, under the supervision of Warrant Officer Ebb Higdon, Company A. They were later dug up to be sold for scrap but were found to be useless and reburied. This equipment had come up from Florida in Liberty Ships, with the Battalion in 1953.
In 1986 when this information was made available to the Town of Stephenville several doubters and curiosity seekers, armed with metal detectors, swarmed over the site and located the buried equipment.
Company B and C began work on the By-pass road by working towards each other. Company C, under the command of Capt. Claxton Ray began at the Stephenville side and worked towards Company B which began construction near Cormiers Village and worked in two directions towards Long Gull Pond and towards Stephenville. It was necessary to begin construction of the road at Cormiers Village and work back towards Stephenville pending the finalizing of property agreements. Company B was under the command of Captain Gomez. The H&S Company split operations equipment and men between the three Companies.
The eleven mile long construction began with a line of corduroy roads comprising one half of the road and when Long Gull Pond was reached in the fall of l954, the other half was constructed. The road followed the existing rail road line. It was necessary to build three access roads approximately two miles in length in order to facilitate construction of the By-pass road. These roads were built to the same specifications as the By-pass road as they were used constantly for heavy hauling. The concrete bridge over Cold Creek was built in 1954 and the sixty foot concrete bridge over Warm Creek was programmed for completion in 1956. Not counting equipment, 90,000 cubic yards of fill. 30,000 cubic yards of crushed rock and 15,000 cubic yards of earth were used before the final nineteen inches of paving was laid down. Equipment and material were stored at the Gull Pond site. The By-pass road was officially opened to the public in October of 1957 and named The Hansen Memorial Highway. The third construction operation was cancelled.
The 347th (changed to the 823rd in 1954) Engineer Aviation Battalion was disbanded in 1960 and most of the men went back to the U.S.A. The two Battalion Commanders at the time were, Colonel Germain and Major Truet. The Medical Officer was V.H. Berry and the Ground Safety Officer was Lt. Arthur Everitt. The general construction on the base (buildings, roads and runways) was done under the base supervision of Colonel Koski and Colonel Bailey. J.A. Jones had the construction contract from 1954-59. From 1956- 1959, Major Ray was the superintendent for the asphalt, rock crushing and concrete operations for J.A.Jones and was responsible for the construction of 200 on base houses, two seven-story barracks for 1500 airmen, additional runways and the Central Heating (steam) Plant. Colonel Koski passed away in 1989 and Lt. Colonel Ray passed away on New Years Eve, 1989.
Education
The first educational institution in the St. Georges Bay area was the Roman Catholic Church. Bishop Mullock established the first church of the Roman Catholic faith at Sandy Point in 1848 when the population of the area was about 2000. Father Belenger was the first priest in the St. Georges Bay area from 1850-1868. Father Sears, then priest in the area, established a church in the growing town of Stephenville.
In 1884 there were four Catholic schools in the parish. One at Sandy Point, one at the Highlands, one at Port aux Basques and one at Campbell's Creek.
Ernest Harmon AFB was established in 1941 and the first elementary school started in a small clap-board building in 1948 housing 28 children and 3 teachers. The first high school graduating class (1957) began in 1953 with all of the students beginning their educations at Saint Stephens High School in Stephenville. The new elementary school (built near the base entrance in 1955) opened in May of 1956 by former Base Commander, Colonel Richard Fellows and the school principal, Mr. Gerald Brennan. In 1956 there were 19 teachers and 62 children.
On September 4, 1956 the high school officially opened on the base in building number T-394, the old elementary school building. In 1958, the same year that Stephenville got a new stop light and T.V. celebrated its first birthday, Harmon High established its own newspaper, The Harmon Highlight. In June of 1960 the elementary school was situated in a very good building with large play areas for the chi1dren. There were 29 elementary teachers and Mrs. Anna Barnett was the secretary. Joseph C. McCormack was the High School principal in 1961 and Mr. Harvey Bodiford was the superintendent of both Harmon and Goose Bay schools with his main office at Goose Bay.
In 1961 Cecil Haddox was promoted to superintendent of the Ernest Harmon Schools and was also principal of the junior-senior high schools. Mr. Haddox taught at Pepperrell Air Force Base (1957- 1960) before being transferred to Harmon in 1960. During this year (61) several new programs were started due to his perseverance. The National Honor Society was formed as well as several new classes such as art, music and physical education. Mrs. Barnett moved to the high school and (the late) Hap Holander was promoted to teacher-principal in the junior high. Cecil Haddox moved around the globe after Harmon closed and continued in educational administration on several U.S. Bases and is now living and working in Price, Texas, where he is high school principal. In 1962/63, Mr. Robert Keefaurer joined the staff as assistant principal.
The base and the schools continued to grow and saw the opening of the new high school, now being used as the community college. In 1963/64 the administration offices were staffed by Mrs. Toon, Mrs Perdue and Mrs Betty Coroner. The high school teaching staff increased to 25 and the elementary-middle school staff of teachers jumped to 42 with the help of Shirley Vincent, Patricia Sudsbury and Julia Reid in clerical positions. Cyril Alexander was the supply clerk at the time. Mr Kidd (elementary school principal) was transferred to Japan and Mr L.E. Davis was the new Principal. In 1964/65 John Middleton became the assistant high school principal and in the administration offices were Mrs. Saul, Mrs. Title, Miss Barnes and Cyril Alexander.
In 1964/65, Greg Hastings was the physical education teacher and coach at the high school and his bride to be was a fourth grade teacher in the elementary school. They were married shortly after leaving the base and are now living in Wilson, North Carolina where Greg is Director of Teacher Education at Atlantic Christian College and Connie is Director of the Children's Center at Wilson County Technical College.
Mrs Edith Raymond taught in the high school in the late 50's and later taught for three years (grade 7&8) in Indiana and 16 years in West Point, Mississippi where she retired in 1980 and is now living on a small farm. In 1965/66 Mrs. Barnett returned and Mr. Steve Davis joined the elementary middle school as the audio-visual director. The total school population had now grown to over 1000 elementary students and 38 teachers and the high school had a population of 171 junior high and 235 high school students and 28 teachers. When the base closed in 1966, so did the school system. It ended with 1175 elementary students and 43 teachers and 405 junior and high school students and 26 teachers. School was literally, out forever.
Recreation
For its early years as an American air force base, Ernest Harmon was quite isolated. Located within the protection of the mountains and harbor of the St. Georges Bay area, it was virtually cut off from rest of the Island except for a few roads and boat and plane traffic. In spite of its early isolation, the morale on the base was high. In the very early years of the base, the adjacent village of Stephenville grew from a few hundred people (with no paved streets or side walks and little or no water and sewage system in 1941) to a town of over 5000 in the mid 50's. It more than doubling in size by the time the base closed down in the mid sixties.
The Base Command realized the situation early in the life of the base and incorporated a number of recreational facilities into their programs and building projects. By the mid fifties, thousands of service men and their families were making use of these activities monthly. In the area of Hobby Shops there was space available for leather craft, ceramics, ham radio, lapidary, woodworking, automotive shops, model airplanes and photo labs. Sports facilities and groups were set for softball, baseball, bowling, golf, picnicking, archery and guns. The hunting and fishing in the Stephenville area was great and the base set up a fishing lodge at Camp 33 with eight large cabins a 40 man Bunk House and a mess hall and kitchen. Camp 33 is owned by Bowaters Pulp and Paper out of Corner Brook and was leased to the base during the spring and summer months.
Along with outside activities a number of service clubs were built and the University of Maryland University College Extension Courses were set up for those wishing to continue their education while on the base. A local broadcasting station and commercial free radio station was in operation by the mid 50's with asmany as six live shows a week being broadcast as well as live theater and plays being made available and a movie theater. A large gymnasium was built in 1956 with a seating capacity of 500, two squash courts and four wall courts. The Base Chapel accommodated up to 1500 worshippers of many religions and faiths per week. The library was also one of the most frequently used facilities with an average book lending rate of 1000 books every month. The most popular recreational feature of the entire base is the Base Theater which runs a new movie every night except Sundays and Mondays. There were four shows a day and a matinee on Saturdays.
In the early years of the base, recreational activities off base, in the Town of Stephenville were very limited and some were often restricted. In some of the pamphlets released by the base to its airmen, they went as far as giving the names of women and particular houses and taverns that no base personnel were to be in or near as well as rules about fraternizing with the local girls.
Fight For Long Gull Pond
During the By-pass road construction activities of 1953/54 the [[347th Engineer Aviation Battalion]] used the beach area of Long Gull Pond as a storage yard for their equipment while the were bui1ding the road. The By-pass Road or Hansen Memorial Highway as it was later to be called, ran along the same route as the existing rail line. It was during June of l953 that one of the officers, Captain Claxton Ray, took it upon himself to discover the ownership of a tract of land encircling the head of the lake nearest the rail line. It was listed on their maps as being part of Reid Lot 2l.
The only means of access to the pond was by the American military rail road from Stephenville to White's Siding, or by walking for five miles through the rugged Newfoundland terrain. The primary construction of the By-pass road continued until the summer of 1955 and there still was no evidence of the ownership of Reid Lot 21. The Engineers had been dealing with the Woods Manager of Bowaters Newfoundland Pulp and Paper Mills Ltd. Mr Cyril Parsons, concerning land acquisition rights along the right of way of the By-pass Road. The officer (now promoted to the rank of Major) was informed that Bowaters owned the parcel of land in question and that they would entertain the idea of selling it for two purposes only: agriculture or tourist development.
On the 19th of July 1955 an application to purchase the 67 acre site was considered by Bowaters and they informed the officer that the sale had been approved with one clause added "..you will be required to resell to the Company the land which you are now acquiring at its original purchase price [of $20.00 per acre ed.] together with the cost of any improvements which you may have made, should you desire to sell the property within a period of ten years".
In l956 Major Ray made preparations to be relieved from Active Duty with the Engineers as of April 30th. He returned to Stephenville as a civilian wishing to engage in private enterprise and drew up plans for a tourist development on the Long Gull Pond site. What he had proposed for the site was a 55 room hotel with motel units, a dining room, swimming pool skating rink and services for hunters and fishermen on the four mile long lake. Bowaters had also leased him 2000 acres of surrounding land, reserving the timber rights for themselves. Because the road construction was incomplete at this time and winter was setting in, the actual purchase transaction did not take place until the 16th of May, l957. The By-pass Road was still under construction and was not completed until the fall with opening ceremonies taking place in October.
During the summer of l957, rumors were abounding in the Town of Stephenville that an American had purchased property with a great potential to the area. The Western Star newspaper in Corner Brook had printed a report on a Chamber of Commerce meet where it was proposed that since the Town of Stephenville had used the Long Gull Pond site for a park for years that it should be acquired for recreational purposes under the Provincial Parks Act before Individuals gobbled it up for their own profits. Bowaters had been placed in an embarrassing position: they had sold Canadian land to a foreigner, before the local population realized they had lost a valuable piece of property. Bowaters was not too concerned.
Major Ray realized that the Town of Stephenville had neither the funds nor the coordinated efforts required to construct a park in the Gull Pond area. Stephenville had over $40,000 in water and sewage bills due at the time and these had not been collected. The town had only one paved street and the others were inadequately lighted, snow removal was inadequate during the winter, there was no water filtration plant at this time and the only local police force was the RCMP. With all this in mind, Major Ray made an announcement in the Western Star on August 20, 1958: I find it most strange that the Stephenville Town Council is seeking to acquire control of my property along Long Gull Pond, off Hansen Memorial Highway, in order to operate a public park several miles from its legal boundaries. In recent months the Council and the Department of Mines and Resources, has requested me to sell my property to establish a so called 'provincial town park'. In each of the three letters offering to buy the property a ridiculously low price is used. The only organizations which have publicly declared themselves are the Town Council and the Stephenville Lions Club.
It is most difficult to understand why I am being victimized, and current activities have every mark of an organized group attempting to overthrow the rights of an individual... After I had recognized the value of the property, and spent over a year developing it, clearing building sites, fencing it, then and only then, did others come forward and attempt to acquire it. If a town park is needed miles from the center of Stephenville, why did the council wait so long?
I am convinced, and sources of other people agree with me that a tourist resort will be of far more benefit to the St. Georges- Port au Port districts than a public park operated by a town council whose reputation as able administrators must obviously be in doubt when it acknowledges tax arrears of $40,000 or more...
At the best of times an individual is hard pressed to maintain his rights in the face of constituted authority, no matter how honest or sincere such an authority is in its actions. It is for this reason that we have laws to protect individuals and minority groups. My position is even more vulnerable to attack since I am an American-born citizen who is seeking a new career in Canada as a Canadian Immigrant. I can still be called a foreigner although I have permanent establishments, business and property investments in Newfoundland.
Three organizations are involved in trying to force me off land I legally own - Stephenville Town Council: Stephenville Chamber of Commerce: and Stephenville Lions Club. It was the Chamber of Commerce in l957 that called for the setting up of a civic park at Long Gull Pond. It is a whisper campaign, to make people believe I am standing in the way of progress, that I am stubbornly refusing to sell my land thus robbing the people of the west coast their own born-right to boil the kettle on their chosen spot of summer scenery. This argument is full of holes. Firstly, I have stated publicly that a first rate section of my land including frontage along the beach of the pond has been reserved and placed solely at the disposal of all comers without cost. I have offered to make such an arrangement permanent by entering into a proper contract with the appropriate authority. This fact, plus the fact that land is still available elsewhere on the pond, shows that more than just a park is involved.
I have spent thousands of dollars on plans, clearing, materials and construction of a tourist resort under the regulations of the Newfoundland Tourist Development Board in order to provide a much needed attraction for this area. Clearly, It should be supported by the general public who should see that the individual does not suffer in false progress.
In the Fall of l958, Mr. W.J. Keough, Minister of Mines and Resources stated that there was no chance, at the present time for the Province or the Town, to purchase property near Stephenville for a park. The Indian Head Rod and Gun Club went ahead that same year with construction of buildings on property bordering Major Ray's, which they had leased from Bowater's.
When the dust finally settled, and everyone stopped fighting over Long Gull Pond, Major Ray didn't develop the lake as a resort area but allowed public access to the property until it was sold to the Indian Head Rod and Gun Club in 1987. He had turned his efforts to other things. In August of 1953, he had received permission from the U.S. and Canadian governments and the Town of Stephenville to construct and operate a trailer park as off base housing for Harmon servicemen. He built and serviced 46, 28X60 foot lots on three acres of land on Queen St. In l956, along with Telesphore White, created another 50 lots on three and one half acres. Mr White bought the property in l965 for $20,000. In 1956, Major Ray began the first coin operated laundromat and dry cleaners in Newfoundland. One of only five in Canada as well as a flower shop on the Base until 1960 and raised a family with his wife, Gay, a teacher at the Harmon Elementary School. The flower shop on the base was situated next to the tailor shop run by Moe and Rita Clayman. When the Ray's moved off the base in 1965, to Woodstock, Ontario, the Claymans had become such good friends with the Ray's that they moved to Woodstock and set up a tailor shop there the next year.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES
Hastings, Greg and Connie. Interviews and correspondence.
Hiller, Ian and Neary Feter (eds.) Newfoundland in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century International. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
66O2nd Air Base Wing EHAFB Information Pamphlet. January 19,1941.
Lengle, Emile and Jaila. Interview and correspondence.
Close to the 49th Parallel: The Americanization of Canada. Toronto University of Toronto press 1977.
Macfadden, David. Inside The Atlantic Triangle: Canada and the Entrance of Newfoundland Into Confederation 19 -1949. Toronto: University of Toronto Press 19.
MacLead, Malcolm. Piece of the Continent: The Impact of Second World War Canadian and American bases in Newfoundland. St. John's: Harry Cuff Publications 1986.
Mulvenna, Francis X. Sr. Interviews aid correspondence.
The Town of Stephenville. The Western Star Interviews and correspondence.
Lt. Colonel Claxton Ray. Interviews, correspondence, military records and diaries.
Gay Ray. Interviews and correspondence.
Raymond, Edith. Interviews and correspondence.
Roberts, Honourable Kenneth. US House of Representitives Correspondence with Claxton Ray.
Stacey C. Mackenzie King and the Atlantic Triangle. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada 1976.
Terranovan bases boon to Newfoundland. St. Johns Telegram. Topics Of The Day. April 16, 1948.
Terranovan. 0,5. Signal Corps. St. John's Telegram. Topics Of The Day. April 17, 1940.
Zeidler, Ed. Interviews ad correspondence.
Archives Information
Records in my possession pertaining to: Lt. Colonel Claxton Ray (1916-1989) are now located in the Centre for Newfoundland Studies archives at Memorial University, St. John's Newfoundland. A microfilm reel is available with all the archival material mentioned, from the above address should you wish a record of my fathers papers and correspondence. These records contain information pertaining to the following: Clay County Alabama (Ashland, Lineville and environs): where he was born, raised, attended high school, married and raised a family. Georgia Tech: where he attended before entering the US Army. Reverend and Mrs. S.C. Ray of Clay County Alabama: Manuscripts and correspondence related to his book: Some Thoughts on the Bible as the Word of God.
Letters. World War II records: 360th Engineers, 1053rd Port Construction & Repair, personal correspondence, diaries and manuscripts. Korean War records: 809th Engineer Aviation Battalion. Ernest Harmon Air Force Base, Stephenville Newfoundland: 1953-1965. 347th/823rd Engineer Aviation Battalion. Military, business, educational and personal records. Additional records are kept at the Scott Library Archives, York University, North York Ontario as part of my archival collection. Woodstock Ontario: 1965-1989. Correspondence and records pertaining to family and business.
