Summerside Hospitality During WWII

Excursions

The people of Summerside and area entertained the personnel of RCAF Station Summerside in many different ways. Dances, concerts, singsongs, and sport competitions were continually being held and service clubs provided recreational facilities. There were also numerous opportunities for excursions or outdoor fun.

In June 1941 Mayor Campbell suggested that citizens might like to offer some hospitality to the airmen by providing afternoon and evening drives to the surrounding countryside. "There are many beautiful spots … where picnics might be held, lovely shores and good fishing places." The airmen who attended Sunday church services were often invited to dinner followed by a leisurely drive in the afternoon. Hitchhiking was a common practice. The Wyatt sisters, along with other caring residents, made a practice of picking up "Air Force lads" along the roadside and taking them along for the ride, whatever the destination might be.

The shores were certainly an attraction in the summer months. The YMCA Secretary of the No. 9 school, John Walker, arranged for several bus trips to Chelton Beach. The Legion representatives at the No. 1 GRS provided many opportunities for Station personnel to be transported to Cavendish Beach. In addition, there were many civilians who invited Air Force friends to enjoy themselves on the Island shores.

Picnics were often part of these beach excursions, but there were also many other destinations for eating in the outdoors. An example was the picnic hosted by the Trinity United Church Young People at Schurman's Point in July 1941. After some games a bonfire was lit on the beach, the young ladies in the group served refreshments, and a rousing singsong rounded out the evening. Another example would be the outing described in the Journal on July 29, 1943. "The staff of the Summerside post office entertained the members of the Postal Corps stationed at the airport with a picnic at McCallum's Point last Sunday afternoon and dinner at the Queen in the evening. The party went across the harbour in a motor boat, and on arriving a program of games was arranged and later all went swimming."

Sometimes groups of men or women from the Airport were fed or entertained in other types of social outings. For instance, on a Sunday afternoon in September 1941, about fifty airmen had an opportunity to go sailing courtesy of several citizens of Summerside. A small number of hikers from the Orderly Room were treated to a home-cooked meal in a farmhouse several miles from the airport in May 1943 and the Women's Division enjoyed a chicken dinner following a sleigh ride in Fernwood in February 1945.

Another type of excursion - one involving lots of exercise and fresh air - was open to airmen in the summer of 1944. When there was a critical shortage of farm workers in July, 21 pilots from Quebec who were awaiting training at the No. 1 GRS were granted two weeks leave to assist local farmers with the hay crop. Later that same summer, 13 members of the RAF spent two weeks helping with the grain harvest. Many other individual airmen spent their 36 or 48 hour leaves working on farms and enjoying camaraderie and home cooking.

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