Life at the Long Branch Army Camp, long, long ago! – Garry Burke shares additional comments
A previous post is entitled:
I am pleased to share with you an additional comment (Jan. 31, 2017) from Garry Burke:
[Ted Long has established that he is indeed the “Teddy” Long that Garry Burke remembers from Christ the King School in Long Branch.]
We also have a discussion about the Long Branch emergency housing at a post entitled:
Comment from Garry Burke
Hello Ted,
I was just thrilled reading your reminiscences. We both lived those times! I knew a “Teddy” Long from the Camp. He went to Christ the King school in Long Branch. He had an older brother who went to Christian Brothers College for a year or two. Are you that “Teddy?” We left the Staff house in the summer of ’55, but I don’t remember the Longs I knew moving there from the Camp.
Aerial view from November 1949 looking east along Lake Shore Blvd West from near Long Branch Loop, Ontario Archives Acc 16215, ES1-814, Northway Gestalt Collection. On the left is Exmoor Drive, which Garry Burke talks about in his message on the page you are now reading. Click on the photo to enlarge it.
My parents bought a little bungalow on Exmoor Drive, almost directly across from the Long Branch Loop. Great location. I recall my mother telling me the mortgage was a whopping $10,500, and that people never, never paid off a mortgage. She also told us when we used the bath tub, only to pour in a few inches, I guess enough the wet and soap the derriere. more water would have been extravagant.
The house and property were expropriated when they built the new bridge at Brown’s Line and the Lakeshore in ’57. I imagine if the place was still standing, with the housing madness in Toronto, it would be worth at least seven or eight hundred thousand dollars. My mother must be rolling in her grave in Kearney, the tiny community where she and my dad toughed out the Great Depression.
Talking mortgages, when my wife and I paid off our mortgage in London , Ontario, I went outside into our yard and yelled, “Mom! We did it!” She had been dead then for fifteen years, but I just had to let her know, nothing is “impossible.”
I’m puzzled by something you wrote. Did your family moved to the Emergency Housing complex called “Little Norway” from the Staff House? I thought families from there, as well as from GECO in Scarborough, Stanley Barracks, and a place like the Staff House near Malton Airport, were relocated either to the Camp or the SH when those “facilities” were shut down. I learned about those former military buildings from kids who moved from there.
Photo source: Ted Long
The Staff House was the last to go, and that was closed wing by wing. I visited a few old friends in the summer of ’58, and only A and B wings were still occupied. The Camp then was completely levelled. During Christmas of that year I visited other friends at the recently opened Regent Park.
I liked your recollections of wandering the rifle range. We stuck to the fields just to the east of the Camp, along what is now called the “Little Etobicoke Creek,” the one that meanders through the Lakeview Golf Course. It was a great play area for kids. And what else could we have done? We spent most of the summer of ’49 down at the lake.
Those tarpaper huts just sweltered. I remember once that summer, when all the families in Hut 7 had to get out, and stay out for the day, because the fumigators were coming to spray. Raw DDT. They may have killed legions of roaches, but those little critters were hardy. Funny story, but true.
The family across from us in Hut 7 used to toast bread by just holding it over the stove burner on a clothes hanger. With four boys, it was fastest way to make toast. Anyways, an aunt showed up once, and decided to use the toaster. But it had become a roach motel, so when she plugged it in, it became a stampede of bugs, much to her horror. When my mother was told what had happened, she found it hilarious. When I tell that story to folks today, they just shudder. Well. Ted, ya just had to be there.
You must remember the heyday of the garbage dump, present day Marie Curtis Park. It was like a line of ants, lads from the Camp lugging back amazing items “salvaged” from that dump.
Do you remember the two fires? The first was tragic, just before Christmas of ’50. Two little boys died. Their older brother was in my sister’s class at CKS. Candies and treats for the Camp’s Christmas party for kids were being stored in their apartment, and they believe the tots used a lighted match or something to root in the closet for sweets, and paper caught fire.
Those huts were firetraps. The other fire was the school. That was the late spring of ’55, my(our?) year in grade 8. That really lit up the night sky.
Strange, in comparison to places in Toronto today, the Camp and Staff House were safe places. There were fistfights of course, and some families you learned to respect, and to avoid, but there were no gangs, and certainly no drug problems. Many families struggled just to put food on the table. Beer seemed to be the only adult “luxury.” And most of my peers took up smoking, just like the grownups.
I’m thrilled that Jaan Pill has taken on this monumental local history task. It’s sad going back for a visit. Everything from my childhood is gone. One of the Small Arms building remains. I used to sell the Telegram newspaper in the Small Arms to workers leaving at the end of their shifts. The “Tely” cost a nickel. A kid along the hall hawked the Star at 3 cents. His sales usually doubled mine. In those days, two pennies meant a lot to people.
Cheers, old friend,
Garry Burke
[End]
Click on the photo to enlarge them
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Below are excerpts from a further message from Garry Burke:
Thoroughly enjoyed those photos. Yes, “ragamuffins” is the perfect descriptor for that horde of grinning kids. And I picked you out immediately, the “Teddy” I went through school with. What touched me were the backgrounds. Pure Army Camp. Those were the huts I remember. I can’t recall the Coy family. Betty looks like a lovely girl.
Photo source: Ted Long
I like the picture of you wearing the sweater with the airplane shape on the front, but who is the lad hanging from the broom handle, or something? What caught my attention in that shot is the background. You can pick out the fields of the rifle range where so many on your side of the Camp romped. Is the lady in the photos your mother? Now they look so…young.
I chuckled at your recollection of cramming into someone’s tiny apartment to watch a TV set. We did the same. There was a barber across from the water tower who had a little TV, and you could watch it while waiting for a haircut. I chuckle now, because when finished with a comb, he’d put it in a solution that looked like kerosene. I’m not surprised. I doubt lads from the Camp had very clean scalps.
The first family in Hut 7 to get a TV were the boys who made toast with clothes hangers over stove burners, and hence the army of roaches finding a haven in the unused toaster. The dad got it so he could watch Saturday afternoon ball games on the snowy Buffalo station. When we got ours at the Staff House, households had been told TV antennas would no longer be permitted. There were just too many on the roof. It was beginning to look like a metal jungle.
Photo source: Ted Long
We lived on the top floor, and our apartment had a little trap door to the attic. Don’t ask me why. You couldn’t walk up there. My father and a neighbour rigged up our antenna on one of the rafters with strings attached, and a hole drilled through the ceiling so that we could rotate the antennas to get clearer reception for the two or three channels. The best programs were from Buffalo. My mother may have missed Sunday mass, but she never missed her late Saturday night wrestling, awful “matches” of good clean Americans against nasty fellows, usually German, Japanese or Eastern European; bad guys, just like in the movies. But that was entertainment in the early ’50s.
I do remember the Luffmans, but I don’t recall “Duggie’s” accident. We wouldn’t have mixed much with families on your side of the Camp. I can’t recall the Coles as boys to keep a safe distance from, but as I said before, the Army Camp was a territorial place for kids. You stayed around huts in the vicinity of your own. And you knew the bullies, and when to say, “Feets! Do yo stuff!” When you mentioned the fire that killed the two very young [boys], I too remember the fire engines roaring past our school, sirens wailing. We were in the same classroom then. Strange, that something lasting maybe four or five seconds has remained in our memories.
Have to kept contact with any of our classmates from Christ the King? Tom O’Marra and I still touch base. I’ve noticed that his sister Colleen had contributed to recollections of early Long Branch.
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Want to join the discussion?Feel free to contribute!
Wonderful to read your messages, Garry!
We owe thanks to Douglas Hanlon who contacted me not long ago through this website, to request my help in gathering and sharing information and stories about wartime emergency housing in the Greater Toronto Area. He said (I paraphrase), “It would be great if the grandkids, of the kids who grew up in such housing in the 1940s and 1950s, knew the stories and history from those times.”
I’m really pleased that I have the opportunity to work on this local history project, and that we can use the Preserved Stories website as a community hub (one of many that are available) to share information about such key stories from the past.
As you note, the task is indeed monumental, but with patience and steady work, we are making great progress! There is much, much more material that we will be sharing.
I also lived in the Army Camp in Long Branch, very poor but very happy.
I did not really know how poor we were until I went to High school in Toronto proper.
I was also a friend of Garry Burke, and knew his family well. We all hung out together
having fun and joking around as kids do. Some wonderful memories remain in my mind
as I have aged. I am now living in Winnipeg Manitoba. I ended up in my fifties married
to Garry Burke’s cousin Ron Shaw who passed away. Some names I remember Butch Bassett Ted Whan Art Butler George Chaisson Frank DeBruge, and of course Garry Burke. Would love to get in touch with him, by phone if possible.. Thanks to you again.
Hi Norah. This is Margaret Mayhew ( Eldridge ) We had great fun times in the Army Camp and Staff House. We lived there from 1947 till 1957. Then we moved to the east end of Toronto. I still keep in touch with Diane Chapman The last time I saw you, you were living by Marie Curtis Park. That was a long time ago. Would love to hear from you. Thanks
Wonderful to read your message, Norah. I’ve sent you Garry Burke’s contact information by email. It’s my hope that you and Garry will be able to touch base by phone.
I’m looking forward (when time permits, in terms of my schedule as a volunteer) to posting more great conversations, from those years (in Long Branch and elsewhere), based on emails from people including Garry who have contacted me about the postwar housing stories at the Preserved Stories website. I work slowly.
Please feel free to share additional memories, that I would be able to post in one form or another at the Preserved Stories website. As well, if you have any photos (1 or 2MB in size works well) from those years, it would be great to be able to post some of those at the Preserved Stories website as well.
My brother Ross Chapman just sent me this info..Our family lived in hut 2006 across from the rifle range. I remember so many of the events that Ted Long wrote about…The boy that drowned used to sit in front of my school desk and I can still remember it being empty to this day. His name was Ross Drury.. I will try to find some pictures to post..Diane
I remember Ross. That was a terrible day. I received a message from John Clifford’s grandson. I know John was a twin but cannot remember his name. I came across some pictures yesterday which really brought back memories. I was lorane Douglas then and lived in Hut 1805.
If you find some pictures to post (I’m thinking of the comments from Diane and Lorane), it would be great if you could scan them (about 1MB or 2MB is good, in terms of file size) and send them (along with details about the photos) to me at jpill@preservedstories.com I would be pleased to post them.
We have some photos from those years already posted, and it’s wonderful to see them and to know of the stories connected to them.
I just read your write-up regarding Ross Drury. We were playing together on the cement foundation in the field when he drowned. I went for help. Unfortunately he never made it. I had lots of friends in the army camp. Just to name a few Kenny Heaton, Verginia Babcock, Donny Fisher, Dorothy Kedor and Bob Sarrion. If you are interested I could name a few more.
Good to read your message Bob. Any additional details about people you remember from those days would be of interest.
Wonderful to read your comment, Diane. I am so please your brother told you about this information. It’s of interest to many people!
It would be great if you can find some pictures to post. You can send them to me as jpeg files at jpill@preservedstories.com
A file size of 1 or 2MB works really well. With that size of of jpg, people are going to be able to see the detail in each photo, when they click on the image and then click again.
Detailed information for captions is also very valuable. I much enjoy seeing photos from years back and reading the stories connected to them.
Dear. Margaret
I am trying to find you.. I just got off the phone with a Margaret Mayhew in Picton ON.
Sad to say it was not you.. So much to say, so many memories. I remember Barb, Diane and Marilyn Hosack Barb’s friend. I am now living in Winnipeg Manitoba. Can you believe it? The name Woodhouse is in my mind. Did we know a Woodhouse? Are you still in ON?
Hope to hear more from you. I am a phone person, but I do have email. Can you tell me if you are in the phone book? What city? Email norahshaw@icloud.com. hope to hear from you,.
All the best….Norah
Dear Margaret:
It was so great speaking to you on the phone.
Take care…God bless…Norah
I lived in the camp from 1947 until 1952 in the first Hut as you entered the camp at the eastern entrance. I think it as Hut 11. I was Lorane Douglas then. Betty Coy lived in the Hut behind me and I remember her doing highland dancing. I remember David Cole, Shirley Eyers was my best friend. There was the Brady’s, the Daviaus, Jung’s and so many others.
There were a few deaths in the early years of children from malnutrician. I cannot remember the family name but there was mother, father and eight children in four small rooms.
The Clifford’s lived in that Hut also. I remember the fire that killed the children. Their older brother Chuck was in my class. It as a very day.
Some of the teachers were Miss Knowles, Miss Carson, Mr. Dorney. Mr Dorney played lacrosse and would take the boys to his games sometimes. Loved playing in the rifle ranges and in the early days we would sometimes come across dud bombs and would seek out the guard to dispose of them. It was a bitter sweet place to live.
It is wonderful to read your recollections and reflections, Lorane. There is so much value, in the sharing of such great, first-hand information from so many years ago.
Dear Lorane:
I lived in the Army Camp for a short while, but moved to the Staff House, where we lived for a few years. I remember the Clifford family. I also took the highland fling dancing, but my dance teacher was Miss Whalen. Did Shirley Eyers have a brother Donny? I also remember groups of us going to the dump, and loading up anything we thought, we or our parents could use.
When I see beautiful Marie Curtis Park as it is today, my mind wonders back to those poor, but happy days as innocent kids. So grateful to Jaan Pill for this site. I have found many old friends
Take care……
Norah Shaw nee Coyle
I think I remember you from Staff House.
I also took highland fling from Miss Whalen..
Take care and stay healthy
Norah
Dear Nora. Yes Donny was her brother. I now remember it was Hut 18 that I lived in. I remember brothers who lived in the Staff house….Jim and Russell. Cannot recall their last names. I also remember Marion County. I think she had twin brothers. Tommy Mayhew was my age. It is nice to go back in time and remember. Did you have Mr. Dorney as a teacher?
Dear Lorane:
Did Donny Eyers marry Marilyn Hosick? Marilyn lived on Haig Blvd, she was the best of Barbara Elderidge, who was Margaret Elderrige’s sister, and my friend. Did you ever live in the Staff House? I have some names for you if you did. How old were you, at the time you you lived there? Do you know if Tommy Mathew is married to Margaret Elderiddge now?
I also remember the two Coates sisters married two brothers. Did you know George Chiasson?
Take care…….Norah Shaw nee Coyle
I’m living in Winnipeg Manitoba now….
My family moved to the Army Camp (from Geco) in the fall of 1948 & settled into Hut 22. We moved a few times within the Army Camp, before leaving finally in the summer of 1954. My memories are mostly good, school nearby, lots of kids to play with, open fields to roam & Lake Ontario a short walk away. But, I’m sure our parents were not happy to have to live under such poor conditions. I ended up marrying a camp gal, Joan Geddes in 1971. 47 years later were still married and living in Toronto.
I’ve kept in close touch with some Army Camp buddies over the years, Bill Hepworth & Art Barras (who sadly passed away 2-years ago). I’ve also reconnected recently, through Facebook, with Bob Jung who now lives in Victoria B.C. I know I have some old Army Camp photos around here somewhere, as soon as I find them I’ll try & post them.
Wonderful to read your message Jack.
Many people have spoken about the friendships and activities that children shared – and the open fields, with room to roam, all within walking distance of Lake Ontario.
That would be awesome – if you have old Army Camp photos please do send them to me as jpeg files at jpill@preservedstories.com with captions and I will be very pleased to post them so they can be widely shared.
Such photos have tremendous value for all of us who have a connection one way or another to the Long Branch Army Camp. I did not live there myself, but I have a strong interest in stories and photos from former residents of the the Army Camp.
I lived in hut 22 also my father was Fred Carter and he was in a wheel chair and my name is Carlyn and Russel Dolby was my boyfriend and I’m wondering how he is doing now?
Good to read your message Carlyn. I will pass your message along to Jack Dolby.
I found a picture of Miss Hoffman’s class of 1949 with names of students. Some of these names have been mentioned in the discussions, Bobby Jung, Billy Hepworth & Ted Long. A few of the names are difficult to read.
Diane. Thank you for picture. That’s my aunt Mary Elaine next to you! My father will be happy to see her picture. He and his 3 sisters lived in long branch with their mom Rose.
Every re-connection that we make, with people from the past that we remember fondly, is a blessing for all concerned.
These are awesome photos that you’ve sent, Diane!
I have posted them at a separate blog post entitled:
Diane Chapman has shared some awesome 1949 photos from the Long Branch Army Camp
I so much appreciate being able to post them. They add immeasurably to the Long Branch Army Camp / Rifle Range stories.
The family I think Loraine shorhame from the staff house was thinking of were jim and russell macdonald
I had a big crush on jimmy
Fond memories of geco and long branch
Many good people grew up in the housing project’s and went on to become productive citizens of our cities and country
One of them who lived in geco was Don Getty who became Premier of Alberta
So true: such valuable contributions!
I would be interested in learning more about Don Getty’s Toronto connection.
Western University
I learned a bit about his life at this link:
https://news.westernu.ca/2016/02/western-mourns-death-of-former-alberta-premier-don-getty/
The article from Western University notes that Don Getty “was born in Montreal in 1933 to a family hurt by the Great Depression. The Gettys lived in several cities in Ontario and Quebec throughout his childhood.”
Edmonton Sun
More information is available at this link:
https://edmontonsun.com/2016/02/26/remembering-alberta-icon-don-getty
An excerpt from the Edmonton Sun article reads:
Donald Ross Getty was born Aug. 30, 1933, in Westmount, Que., the second of five children raised in poverty during the Depression.
He attended elementary and secondary school in Montreal before moving with his family to Ottawa, Toronto and London, Ont., as his father struggled to find steady work.
In the 1940s, the family lived in makeshift housing units in an abandoned warehouse in Agincourt, north of Toronto, where Getty recalled growing up an “outcast” amid the gravel, barbed wire and garbage. He started playing football in the cinder-paved warehouse yard using rolled-up newspapers as footballs.