Huge turnout for the CMEC vote which, thanks to the revised proposal of "up to $2500 for an alarm system or security upgrades for the CMEC museum", gained almost universal acceptance, with the vote (including the Victoria guys who called their results in) of 32 in favour; 3 opposed; 2 abstaining. Everybody I saw left with smiles on their faces, so congrats to all who put all the extra effort in in the proverbial 11th Hour. As another unexpected upside, several lapsed members of Western Command renewed their memberships the night of the vote (though our President respectfully asked them not to cast a vote on this particular issue given the possible optics) so things seemed to beat expectations all 'round.

This whole process has been very educational, so hopefully next time something similar comes up, things will turn out as well.

Some have wondered whether it's okay to bring kids to the Christmas Dinner and the answer is CERTAINLY! Since it's a private function and BYOB there's no problem whatsoever, and quite a few kids who are part of Western Command also dedicate a lot of their time to CMEC, so it's definitely their party too.

The Club Christmas Dinner this year will be held out at the former CFB Chilliwack at the premises of the CMEC museum on Saturday, November 29th. The museum is open to the public up until 4 pm, at which point it will be closed to everyone but those attending our annual Christmas function. Western Command members are invited to show up at any time during the day if you just want to hang around for a bit and check things out until the party starts, or just show up any time after 4pm otherwise. We're going to be securing a barbecue for steaks and baked potatoes etc, and will probably be doing some Costco shopping for various other munchies etc. between now and then.

The party's strictly "BYOB" (Bring-Yer-Own-Booze) and any other food items you care to contribute, and as we're likely to be short of chairs, if you have a favourite folding chair or can steal one away from your favourite pro-wrestling act -- bring it along. Apparently a couple of the Island members are coming along as well, and since I just know BC Ferries will find a way to charge them extra for their *own* lawnchairs -- perhaps we could find a few extras for them too.

If you don't feel like driving home you're welcome to stay overnight at CMEC, with the provision that you actually get out of bed some time before the public shows up at 10 am the next morning! We do have our public image to uphold, after all, and though some of us can probably walk around unshaven and a bit wobbly on our feet and claim we're civilian refugees in some re-enactment of the wars in Bosnia - the rest of us will never get away with it. There's also an RCMP hotel-setup on the CFB Chilliwack grounds if you're eligible to get a room there for the night at something like $165 a night, but you'd have to get contact details from our President, Harry Moon (hmoon@telus.net) as I'm a little unclear as to what's possible and what isn't.

Much of the last meeting was necessarily taken up with issues and procedure with regard to the CMEC vote, but several members related their experiences at Remembrance Day ceremonies in Vancouver, Maple Ridge, Abbotsford, Aldergrove and North Vancouver. Several members supported events at their local cenotaph by bringing out vehicles including Don Robson, Jeff Davis, Andy Hill, Grayson Lum and David Beale (in Ian Newby's LAV-Coyote prototype), Barry Steenerson (in Newby's 41 Ford Staff Car), and a few others I'm sorry I've forgotten but I was somewhat preoccupied at the meeting. Everyone reported that - continuing the trend established over the last decade or so - crowds attending the individual memorial services continue to increase by leaps and bounds every year -- though it's been noted that in general, support of these events by our members with their vehicles has tailed off. Naturally many of our members are involved with museums, cadets and active military units which all have their own commitments on Remembrance Day -- but perhaps those amongst the rest of us could find some time to bring their vehicles out to their local cenotaphs, or join other members at other events, at such time of the year when everyone's receptive to military history and those commemorating same.

Upcoming events were only discussed in broad terms as traditionally the Club tends to hibernate over the winter months as there are few post-November events up our particular alley. There are a few Christmas parades (including one in Aldergrove on Dec. 13th) and "Toy Run" events sprinkled throughout the lower rainland in the run-up to Christmas, but you'd have to check your local papers for details. We did talk about one major event which was a HUGE success the last time we did it (despite the weather), and that was the "Vancouver Defended" event a couple of years ago.

For those who don't know, "Vancouver Defended" is a book by local author/ professor Peter Moogk which details the Coastal Defences in and around Vancouver from WWI through the disbandment of Coastal Artillery formations in 1956. If you know where to look, a fair bit of that stuff survives to this day, and during our last "Vancouver Defended" event, we had a convoy of club vehicles tour many of the remaining sites with author Peter Moogk along as our guide. It takes a fair bit of time to explore *everything* that remains of the local defenses, so last time out we concentrated our efforts on Stanley Park and Point Grey - though remnants of the defenses also exist on Wreck Beach (nudity optional) and over at Point Atkinson too. There is a lot of interest in another such event slated for the early part of next year, and we're hoping to get cooperation from the City of Vancouver (Parks) to open up the sealed bunker near the Teahouse at Ferguson Point for a look inside. This is a two-storey underground bunker which supported the gun positions (the superstructure portions of which have since been demolished) at Ferguson Point during the war, and as the air down there is of questionable quality - the City must come in to flood the area with breathable air before it can be explored. They did this about three years ago to check on the condition of the structure, and we've heard it can be arranged again.

At Point Grey on the grounds of the current Museum of Anthropology there is also an emplacement which consisted of three six-inch coastal artillery guns and the associated command, observation and ammunition storage facilities. Gun Postion No. 1 has been cleaned up and marked off a couple of times over the years (first by UBC students and Peter Moogk himself -- latterly by the 15th Fd Regiment museum in cooperation with UBC), where Gun Position No.2 was essentially levelled to create the Museum. Gun Position No. 3 still exists in ruins on the far side of the Museum, and the interconnecting tunnel between all three positions still exists, and is evidently used by the Museum to run utilities. We're hoping we can get permission to visit the tunnels and magazines here as well. (There was also some talk of a bunker which exists on the airport grounds at Sea Island, but we have no further information at the moment.)

We also discussed club participation in the upcoming Camp Vernon anniversary event, but a visit by WCMVHS member ian MacArthur to one of the Camp Vernon anniversary organizational meetings showed that they were in an advanced state of disorganization due to various factors, and that it appeared Western Command participation would not be likely. If that changes we'll revisit the idea of taking part, but as it stands we have no plans to formally add the event to next year's calendar - as much as we'd like to. We did talk about another "Freedom Route" type convoy event, as yet undefined, as the Legions and folks up Okanagan way are very interested in seeing us again, and there are still many places in B.C. which never get to see anything like our convoy.

Another event which was talked about - perhaps in conjunction with another 'Freedom Route' - was a possible visit to Salmon Arm area to see a couple of the collectors there, including George Boatman who did an amazing job coordinating those "Canadians Remembered" events at the Seaforth and 15 Fd. Armouries a few years ago. Those events are still the benchmark for similar things which have occurred subsequently in the run-up to Remembrance Day, and now that George has a nice property up there in Salmon Arm, we might be able to camp out.

Lastly, as many of us know, long-time member-slash-organizer extraordinaire (and ex-President) Ian MacArthur will be leaving us at the end of the year - perhaps permanently - as he joins his wife, Caro, and son Matthew first in New Zealand, and then for an extended period in Dubai. This leaves a gaping hole in our events organization for the next year, so we need a few people to step up to the plate and help shoulder the organizational burden for things like the proposed "Freedom Route" type convoy which require an awful lot of good old-fashioned work. We'll miss Ian, as he's certainly one of the people in Western Command who 'get things done', and he's been a pillar of the Club for longer than some of our younger members have been alive.

Drew and Tammy Swan, late of the Vancouver area and still active members of Western Command in their new digs up in Salmo (?) , sent along the following pics of events they attended up in Salmo and in Nelson over the summer...

"Hi all, heres some photo's from the Kootenays.  The shots of the ambulance are from the Canada Day parade in Salmo.  Unfortunately I was working on the coast so we lent the landy to the legion and we asked a legion member we know to drive it for us.  You should have seen the grin on his face when I gave him an indoctrination drive.  Ear to ear smiles.  They placed it with the legion float leading the parade and if you look close you'll see one of our mounties in his red serge marching with them.  the parade ends up on the ball field where participating vehicles were on display for the day's events.  Tammy told me when they were having the fireworks, the best in the area, one exploded in a firefighters face and another blew up sending flaming pieces all over, one landed on someones car (I miss all the cool stuff for work)  We've been well recieved by all the people we talk to.  The shot of the 80' is from the Nelson Road Kings car show.  The biggest one in the area attracting folks from Seattle area, Idaho, Montana, and Alberta.  It's such a todo here that all hotels are full that weekend.  (I know what your thinking, Nelson has more than one hotel!)  Events here are hard to find.  Now that we've spent a season here we know when most of them happen so look for many more next year. Send this to anyone you wish.  I'd like fellow members to know we're still active. 
Sincerely, Drew and Tammy on patrol"

Thanks for the pics, guys! Hope to see you in this part of the world sometime next year, or maybe we'll come up there!

Our newsletter editor and member emeritus Bruce MacMillan sent in some photos of this summer's events including the campout event at CMEC, the MVPA International Convention in Portland, OR, and the BC Day 'Salute to Veterans' event sponsored by Burnaby Village Museum. Please click on the event names below for the appropriate pics.

Members have likely been wondering why we don't have more pics on the site and/or have pics of all our adventures of yore and the simple answer is...we don't have room! Member-for-life Jim Watkins has graciously hosted the WCMVHS website for years now through iias.com out in Abbotsford, B.C., but we nevertheless have a cap in place on the amount of information we can host, and as you well know, today's digital cameras take truly fantastic images - but those same glorious images take up an awful lot of space on the server that we simply don't have. Pictures sent to your webmaster are reformatted so we can squeeze as much as possible on the site, but I also have to keep things as current as possible, so three-four year old events have to retire to make room for this year's. (Next time around I'll make the 'big' pictures a bit smaller. I set the generator for 70% original size and they're still gigantic. -- webmaster)