Summerside Hospitality During WWII

Drawbacks

The general atmosphere as a result of the RCAF presence was as positive and happy as possible considering a world war was being fought. However, as in all things, there were some negatives.

Some of the owners of the farmland that was confiscated in North St. Eleanors lost both their productive fields and sense of home. For those who stayed in the vicinity, they had to endure the almost constant buzzing of airplanes overhead.

Another early negative point was expressed in a Summerside Journal editorial of August 21, 1940. A reference was made to the new construction in North St. Eleanors causing a constant traffic flow. "The trucks engaged in this work pass through town in close proximity to the Prince County Hospital and with their noise added to that caused by the regular night-prowling element in their cars the effect must be agonizing indeed to patients sorely in need of all possible quietude, and the complaints that have reached this office regarding this nerve-straining racket are fully justified."

Once the Station opened there was another problem, this one related to the airplanes. Sometimes over-exuberant pilots swooped too close to the ground. Beginning in April 1941, notices ran in the newspapers advising PEI citizens to report any low flying planes. Telephone calls giving particulars of locality and type of plane were to be made to either the No. 9 School in Summerside or the No. 31 GR School in Charlottetown.

The low flying aircraft were frustrating to fox farmers in the area. The loud noise of planes approaching the runways was disruptive to foxes bearing litters.

There was worry by many citizens of potential crashes. Two Island insurance companies ran advertisements in early 1941 offering people coverage if a falling aircraft should hit their house.

A negative thread ran through the issue of housing. While most boarders and renters were satisfied with their accommodation, some airmen felt that rent was too high. The Journal in May 1941 reported, "For instance a lady in Toronto has written to the authorities here stating that her son, who is getting $1.30 a day is obliged to pay $28.00 a month for one room only in a small house." Married couples that sought places in town during a housing shortage in 1943 often had to contend with very basic one-room apartments.

Hospitality was not always forthcoming. When the Veterans Guard left Summerside in August 1941, they complained that "they were not even extended as much as a deck of cards." Another group that left without feeling a sense of welcome was a class of trainees that same summer. At the Y's Men's meeting in September, "It was stated that in the last graduation class there were a number of students from England who during their six weeks sojourn here had very little, if any hospitality extended to them." This situation was presumably rectified when at the same meeting a committee was formed to "secure a list of such men and contact citizens who would like to extend the hand of friendship."

Romances between airmen and civilian women sometimes ended on an unhappy note. There were reports of Air Force members, with wives waiting in their hometowns, dating local girls. In at least one case, a would-be bride was only a few days from her wedding when she learned that her fiance was already married. The possibility of ending up with a broken heart was matched with the risk of an unplanned baby.

Some social problems increased with the proximity of so many military personnel who came into town to fill idle time. Bootleggers did a thriving business, and a few notes appeared in the newspaper about airmen being charged for minor offences. Dance hall fights were not uncommon. Sometimes it was Air Force versus Army members and other times military personnel fought with civilians. In 1945 the Journal commented, "Lawlessness seems to be on the increase" and ran a short article on rowdyism.

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