HMCS Gloucester

HMCS Gloucester - People 1

GRADUATING CLASSES
As a result of different photo sizes, they have been arranged chronologically but in two groups.

Click on thumbnail photo to enlarge.

	1952 (June 23). Trade Group III graduating class. Back row: J. Wood, C. Lamb, G. Cooper, A MacLean Middle row: R. McBurney, W. Yorga, L. Laurie, R. Trudel W. Cummings Front row (L-R) : Omer Levasseur, E. Amy, W. Reed, N. Hudson, J. Westell , M. Love (Submitted by Glenn Reed) L. Laurie was later commissioned and ultimately became first Navy Officer to command CFS Ladner which had always been Army. Bill Cummings was present at the opening of NRS Frobisher in 1954.
	1954: Communicator Supplementary Trade Group 1/2 Course Rear: B. Wilson, R. Lebrun, D. Stewart, JP Arsenault, J. Biddle, Unknown. Middle: (MacArthur), M. Pellerin, B. Walker, T. Tischart. Front: PICS B. Amos - Instructor, Lcdr (USN) Tamberello - Training Officer, CmdO D.W. Smith - Divisional Officer [1]. The Commander of Gloucester at that time was Cdr John "Snaky" Hall. (DND photo submitted by Doug Stewart)
	1955: The occasion is the changing of the base commander from John Hall to D.S.K. Blackmore. Back Row: Doug Walker, Hugh Mortimer (RCN Padre?) and Don Black. Middle Row: Don Smith, Bud Smith, ? Tamburello (USN), Bob Wilson, Evelyn Yip and Bob Collins. Front Row: DSK Blackmore and John Hall (Photo via Donna Loewen, nee Blackmore - the daughter of Cdr Blackmore . E-mail: <donnaern(at)telus.net>)
	20/7/1959 to 25/3/1960 Class 55-A. Radioman Special. Trade Group 1 Course. Rear row L-R: A.Deans, R.Trudel, J.Lockert, C.Gault, J.Edmunson, C.Burgess. Center row L-R: G.Holdner, R.Cattle, B.Jackson, W.Halstead, J.Kuchynski, J.McPherson, A.Briscoe. Front row L-R: A.Simpson, CPO Dunbar, Lt. Stroud, PO2 Westran, F.Cheetham. (DND photo from the collection of Allan Briscoe)
	March 1960: Electronic Warfare Class. (DND Photo # O-12550 submitted by Spud Roscoe) Front row, squatting, Dale Stoker, then P1 Ray Trudel, C1 John "Boots" Dunbar, Cmd O (SB) Jim Kempton, P1 E. (Zack) Carey, P2 Byrne Westran, LS "Scotty" Alain. Rear Row: (L-R) Mel Lutz, Undentified, Undentified, Undentified, John MacDonald, S. G. "Spud" Roscoe, Thompson, Robbie Robson, Gaston Godbout, Dave Preston and Parlardge. This is a portion of the naval contingent of the very first attempt at any unification of the Canadian Armed Forces. General Lauris Norstad, USAF, was the head of NATO at this time and paid a visit to Ottawa. An honour guard for this visit was made up of the three services. The Navy on the right, with S. G. Roscoe as right marker, members from the 1st Canadian Guards in the middle and the Air Force on the left. Roscoe was right marker at nearly 6 feet 5 inches tall, the tallest naval member. The officer of the guard was an Air Force officer and the Chief of the guard was Chief Gunner "Spike" Sullivan, Gloucester's Chief G.I. The members of the guard did not know what to make of it and it was one of the biggest laughs they experienced. The Air Force officer had them wearing the Air Force white nylon gloves that were very slippery in handling a rifle. At least one member of the guard dropped his rifle during practice and Chief Sullivan did not say a word. When the Air Force officer made his first inspection he stopped in front of Roscoe and made the comment that the naval blue chin straps would look much better in white. Chief Sullivan had had enough and threw his hat in the air and simply said "no f-----g way, SIR"! General Norstad was a very short man and when he went by Roscoe he felt the Canadian government was trying to impress him with the physical size of the members of the Canadian military. It was a few years later that the real unification was started.
	1961, February: Course RS 401. This was the first one-year TG4 class. Rear Row: PO Ron MacLellan, PO Tom Ewen, PO Bill Hillaby, PO Ivan Graham, PO Boyd Webb. Middle Row: PO Stan Darowski, PO Art Cottrell, PO Gerry Bursey, PO Gord Todd. Front Row: CPO John "Boots" Dunbar, Cdr. D.Blackmore, CmdO.(SB) Jim Kempton, CPO Jim Wood (From the collection of DSK Blackmore. Submitted by Donna Loewen)
	1962: Summer TG1 Class. (Submitted by Gord Walker <walker6(at)sympatico.ca>) Back Row (L-R): Bob McLaren, John (?) Hoyt, Howie Mackenzie, Unknown, Unknown, Unknown, Marc Regimbal. Front Row (L-R): Unknown, Mike Legault, Carl Law, Gord Walker, Bob Yudin, (?) Russell, Norm Bouchard, Fred Pierce. Seated: Chief "Boots" Dunbar, Lt. Carmichael, PO2 John Harvey
	Late 1963 to January 1964. Radioman Special Trade Group 2 Course. Rear row: (L-R) Dickison(?), C.Gault, H.Sampson, A.Callan, –?-, D.Dorrington, J.Lockert. Center row: (L-R) L.Rock, D.Muloin, I.Tree, B.Cousineau, M.O’Brien, A.Briscoe. Front row: (L-R) C1RS4 William Paly, Lt Douglas A. Potter, P1RS4 Ken Kraft. (DND photo from the collection of Allan Briscoe)
	1964: RS-214, ABRS2 Class. March to October. (DND photo. Submitted by Eric Earl). Front row (L-R): Chief Carrey, Mr. Burke, Petty Officer Ernie Grimshaw. Second Row: Larry King, Eddy Martin, Fred Pierce. Third Row: Robby Roy, Victor Klassen, Eric Earl, Lynne Parry. Rear Row: Jimmy Longmire, Graham Smith, Rick Carter, Bob Huglet, Roy McFarlane, Brenden Smith.
	1966: Graduation Class . (DND Photo) Front Row: CPO Norm Gould, Lt. Cy Walker, Lt. R.A. Wilson, P1 Burt Fergusson. Second Row:Wayne Watkins, Arch (Mac) McIntyre, Dave (Dinger) Bell, Bob White, Joe Prevost, Wayne Redmond, Jim Maheux, Wayne Moore, (Andy) Anderson, Sam Simmons. Back Row: Hugh Sinclair, Dick Wells, Mike Juhas, Cec (Herk) Dacre, Ray Dorsey, Lloyd Attwell, Larry Laviguer.
	1966: Gloucester Chiefs and Petty Officers Mess Members. (DND photo submitted by Doug Steward) All IDs are from left to right; XX indicates identity not known. Number key at bottom. Front row: XX; Bud Flanagan (1); Grant Dodd; Norm Gould; Don Cameron; Frank Cormier; Bill Levack (2); Jim Wash; Gord Todd. 2nd row: Ron Belleville; Tom Ewen; Ernie Hayward; J. Power (3); Sick Bay Tiffy, surname is Foley{?}; Ernie Grimshaw; XX. 3rd row: XX (4); Tim Kenneally; PO2RS3 Ted "Tiddley Ted" Haine; Cliff Gee; Alan "Salty" Searle; XX (7); Norm Armour; Bob King (8). 4th row: XX; Dave Cartwright (8); XX; XX (8); Tom Beardsley; XX; XX (9); Ray Dorsey (8); Gord Smith; XX (10); John Yablonski; XX (8); XX; Doug Stewart. 5th row: XX; XX (8); Arch McIntyre (8); Harry Madden; XX (8); Ed Uhutch (8); xx (8); XX (8); XX (8);Bill Collings; George Burke. Notes: 1 Bud Flanagan was the Chief Bos'n. 2- Bill Levack was the senior Pay Writer, 3- RCAF member 4- Concealed behind Belleville, 7- Unidentified, concealed at Searle's left. 8- In Class 2 Uniform (so marked for clarity). 9- Unidentified RCCS NCO (First name possibly "Clay") 10- unidentified, concealed.
	1966 Class RS-224 - April 1st to September 2nd Rear row (L-R): S. Partington (far left on 2nd step),(up one step) K. Challey, G. Ritchie, E. Holley, J. Brunton, R. Griffin, A.(Al) Honea, L. Jones, J. Green Second row (L-R): A. Solomon, K. Halcrow, R. Demers, F. Varela, G. Abel, D. Lehman. First row (L-R) B Bettesworth (standing far left), (Seated rank in between), M Rikkinen (standing far right) Seated (L-R) CPO Gould, Lt Burke, Lt Laurie, P1 Beardsley (Submitted by Matty Rikkinen <mjrikkinen(at)3web.net>)
	1967: Trade Group 3 Course (DND Photo) Front Row: Don Cameron, Roy Marsaw, Arch (Mac) McIntye Second Row: Roy Mayville, Chuck Connelly, Bud Clark, Dinty Moore, Bart Peddie, Bill Ringler. Third Row: Doug Stansfield, George Shular, Ken Gerry, Manny Wells, Andy Anderson Back row: Andy Cleghorn, Bob Meikel, Clarence Andrews, Jack Whittingham. Dale Stoker.

	1972, Aug 23. CR3 7202. Names are under the photo.
	1972, September 1. Class CR3 7201 Names are under the photo.
	1972, September . Class PL-3 7203. : This is the last graduating class at Gloucester just before they closed the facility in the autumn of 1972. Names are under the photo. Back row, third from the left is Michael Walker who went on to work for Halifax Coast Guard Radio. (From the collection of Michael Walker)

The captions that go along with these graduating class photos clearly identify the year , however the designators of TGx, PL-3 and TQ3 do not identify a trade. Based on observing a number of other graduating class photos, the following identifiers were used:

TGx used from 1956-1964
RS and TG used in 1965
CR-3 used in 1970, 1972
PL-3 used from 1972-1974
TQ-3 used from 1975-1995 inclusive
AL means Applied Language

FULL SIZE PHOTOS ONLY

1958: Graduating Class.
Back row: (L-R) Ken Dorush, unknown, Roger Philon , unknown, Bruce Pirt
Middle row: (L-R) Archie Reid, Ron Hume, Jack Crowston. Remainder of row unknown.
Front row: (L-R) Unknown, D.S.K.Blackmore, Ted (Kipper) Burke
(Photo submitted by Donna Loewen. From the collection of D.S.K. Blackmore)

Spud Roscoe reminisces about some of his classmates from the 1960 EW course. "Mel Lutz was from Moncton. Thompson had grade 12 high school and was always going to be an officer. Very few had high school in those days and those that did were officer material - so they thought. I do not know what became of him. Robbie Robson was transferred to HMCS Swansea with me. He did not last long - a few days if I remember correctly. He wanted out so he could become a policeman. Gaston Godbout was your typical French Canadian kid of that era. They made our navy something very special. I cannot explain it but they were the finest kind of gentlemen. Gaston went to HMCS Iroquois from this class.
Dave Preston, whom we called Sarge from the Sergeant Preston of the Yukon radio program, and Parlardge were the best of buddies all through their naval careers. They were together at Gloucester as soon as they arrived from Cornwallis. They went to NRS Aklavik together then on to HMCS Micmac from this class. Both were excited to see me when we slid in alongside of them one day when coming in from patrol in HMCS Swansea. Preston married and left the navy. After settling in Moncton and becoming a bread delivery driver for Ben's Bakery, Dave met an untimely death at age 32 after succumbing to a heat attack.
Dale Stoker is retired and living in Medicine Hat, Alberta. Dale played hockey and may still play for all I know. He and my buddy Bill Demish, who travels with me when out west played hockey together. Bill said he was getting too old to play and would soon be a fan. The team is looking forward to it because they have never had a fan.
Scotty Alain, another French Canadian lad was always singing "Oh My Darlin" from the Huckleberry Hound TV
cartoon and nearly drove us nuts. He retired as a chief I understand and lives in Moncton".

TG2, April 1965 : ( DND Photo O-16084 submitted by Ray White)

First row: ( L-R seated ): PO Ernie Grimshaw, Lt. E.A. Burke, PO Ray White.
Second Row: Bob "Red" McKee, Peter Fletcher, Barry Colbeck, George Johnson
Third Row: Mike Peachey, Jack McLeod, Bob Foers, Dick Baker
Fourth Row: 2nd from left is Brian Hartnett. The remainder are unidentified.
Fifth Row: Jim Mundy, Brian Hartnett, Danny Wallace, Art Dumas, Cliff Swelin

Class RS404, Spring 1964 (DND Photo O-15747 submitted by Ray White)

Front row (L-R): Lt. Ray Eastman, Cdr A.P.Johnson (SOSRS), CPO John R. Westell.
Middle Row: Petty Officers Ambrose Atkins, Ray White, Charles Langdon, George Ward, Ron MacLean, Roy Garrett.
Back row: Petty Officers Ken Gouchie, Ron Beal, John Robitaille, Tom Beardsley, Grant Dodd, Norm Anctil

Trade Group Two class which concluded training in August 1964.. (DND Photo O-15780 submitted by Ray White)

1sr Row: (L-R) CPO Zack Carey, Lt. Ray Eastman, P.O. Ray White.
2nd Row: Guy Lemieux, Ron Angus, Ken Farmer, Doug Whitsell, Dave Stewart [Stuart ?] Tony Dembecki.
3rd Row: Doug Fletcher, Ian Little, Elmer Hall , ? Tierney, Don Gelinas
4th Row: Bob Jones, Brian Sullivan, George Green.

Note: Guy Lemieux stayed in for the duration and subsequently ended up at the COMM school in Kingston as an instructor.

Trade Group 3 Class,1965 (DND Photo O-16145 submitted by Ray White)

Front Row (L-R): PO Ray White, Lt. R.A. Wilson, CPO Zack Carey.
2nd Row Left to right - Gerry Burton, Lorne Hassard, Dave Chester, Frank Pielak, Lee Jones, John Kenyon
Third row: 3rd Row - Gary Anstey, Jake Berry, George McKay, Mel Beemer, Dick McDonald, Lynn Wortman, unidentified

1968 Class AL-8. June - December. Applied Language - Russian .

Rear row standing: L. Siminot (Sigs Cpl), M. Rikkinen, Unknown, Unknown,
Front row seated (L-R): James (Jim) Blair, CPO Donald Cameron, Lt. James Wood , P1 J. Yablonski (Submitted by Matty Rikkinen <mjrikkinen(at)3web.net>)

FOOTNOTES
[1] Ray White offers this explanation about the rank. "CmdO(SB) was the abbreviation for Commissioned Officer (Special Branch). In referring to these officers, the term "Mister" was used. This was the rank usually given to Chief Petty Officers in the Communicator Supplementary branch when they were commissioned from the ranks. I say "usually" because I cannot recall any CmdO's who had been commissioned from the rank of Petty Officer.
The rank insignia was a single ring and, in the early days before the colours showing the officer branches were abolished, the Special Branch officers wore dark green beside the gold ring. Executive Officers were the only Officer group who did not have a distinguishing colour and after the colours were abolished, all officers were indistinguishable with regard to branch. I recall when I was on New Entry Training (the official term for basic training or boot camp in 1951) the Divisional Officer in our division was a Commissioned Radio Officer (CmdO(R) but I can't recall the distinguishing colour worn.
In our branch there was messdeck discussion about why someone who had risen to the top as a Chief, would accept a commission and go to the very bottom of the pecking order. But the feeling was that a CmdO in any branch was generally considered much more experienced than most Lieutenants and of course, all sub-lieutenants, and was treated as such, especially by senior officers".

Contributors and Credits:
1) Ken Farmer <Kfarm(at)mail.com>
2) Allan Briscoe, Radioman Special, Communicator Research 291 and Radio Tech 221 1959-1979 <vtxal4(at)gmail.com
3) Spud Roscoe <spudroscoe@eastlink.ca>
4) Cken Reed <glenn(at)gril.ca>
5) Dave Berry

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Sept 26/21