Entertainment and Recreation

At Camp Borden and throughout all of the Canadian Armoured Corp bases and units, significant expense and time was dedicated to maintaining morale of the troops through both sports and entertainment.

Sports

Sports was considered an important part of a Armoured Unit’s life. Each unit or regiment would appoint a “Sports Officer” who was responsible for unit equipment and setting up leagues. Team sports were encouraged and “friendly” matches between units or in local civilian leagues (if in garrison) were popular. No small amount of pride was created by a good standing.

The pictures below are taken from “Tank”, the magazine of the CAC produced in Borden. Tank would have four to eight pages of sports news in most editions – demonstrating the importance of sports in Canadian Military life.

Dances

Dances were the most approved form of social interaction for single serving members. It was not uncommon for messes to hold a dance at least once a month. Mess dances were usually restricted to the members of the mess, spouses, and “significant others” as non-spouses would be invited with permission of the head of the mess.

More popular were the “civilian” dances were members of the public (especially the female members) were able (and often encouraged) to attend. These dances were often put on by YMCA, local church groups, and in Borden but the Ladies Auxiliary.

Once overseas, dances became more difficult to put on. A memoir from a gunner Arthur Ward of ‘E’ Battery 11th (HAC) REGT RHA CFM told of a dance held at Sidi Moussa, Morocco in May 1944 which was attended by 200 Gunners, 80 members of the Auxiliary Territorial Service ( ATS; often pronounced as an acronym; the women’s branch), and 12 NAAFI (Navy Army And Air Force Institute) girls.

Reviews and Movies

Movies continued to be popular either as a external social interaction or as a unit occasion.

Often, reviews provided a more local opportunity for some light entertainment. These were usually a mix of skits and songs and outside of major cities – were produced by locals or the soldiers themselves.

In Barrie near Camp Borden, Mrs. Kay “Ma” Kenny was President of the Women’s Auxiliary. She was know as the “Mother of Camp Borden” She worked on or produced a number of reviews for the troops at Camp Borden including “Hitting the Jackpot” and “Ritzin’ the Blitz” Notably, she also corresponded to 180 Armoured soldiers overseas during the war.

Not to be outdone, the soldiers themselves created their own review troupe known as “The Black Berets”. This was a small travelling show that was all-male and first played in 16 February 1944. They played to over 20,000 people in army camps all over eastern Ontario but did not make it overseas. The theme song was written by Frank Lesser who also wrote “Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.” He donated all Canadian Royalties to the CAC. This was not a fully amateur show. The producer (Lt. Carte-Page) was with Walt Disney Studios before the war and the director (L/Cpl Mindie) worked for RKO in California before returning to Canada to join up.

CAC Band

In fall of 1943, a Canadian Armoured Corps Band was created. It comprised of 30 musicians under the direction of WO1 C. H. Fowke. The CAC Band was commanded by Lt-Col G. Perry (Ontario Tanks) and Major W.J. Wallace (Three Rivers).

The band played for parades and toured with the “Black Berets”, visiting army camps throughout eastern Ontario. The band did go overseas as shown by the picture in Nimegen.

Royal Canadian Armoured Corps Association History Website