S-8 c.a.t.s.

[Jholl72]

Hi guys,

I picked up a grouping and the vet was assigned to S-8 CATS. Is it possible to find out where this school was located and what trades they were teaching?

[Mark W. Tonner]

Serial 1231 - S 8 Canadian Army Trade School was located at Hamilton, Ontario.

Serial 1231 - S 24 Army Trade School was authorized under General Order Number 250 of 1941, effective 15 January 1941 and was re-designated Serial 1231 - S 8 Canadian Army Trade School under General Order Number 29 of 1943, effective 1 November 1942. Serial 1231 - S 8 Canadian Army Trade School was disbanded under General Order Number 198 of 1946, effective 29 April 1946.

The school opened in May 1941 and was designed to instruct 2000 soldiers at a time in a variety of trades: welder, electrician, carpenter, driver mechanic, bricklayer, blacksmith, clerk, armourer, equipment repairer, fitter, machinist, cook, coppersmith, motor mechanic and instrument mechanic. Personnel of the Canadian Women’s Army Corps also under went training at the school.

The War Diaries for the school can be found at Library & Archives Canada (Ottawa) under the File Title: S8 Army Trades School, Hamilton (Serial: 1231, Access code: 90, Finding Aid number: 24-60), the references for which are:

Reference: RG24, National Defence, Series C-3, Volume 16897 (1941/02-1941/10)
Reference: RG24, National Defence, Series C-3, Volume 16898 (1941/11-1942/04)
Reference: RG24, National Defence, Series C-3, Volume 16899 (1942/05-1942/08)
Reference: RG24, National Defence, Series C-3, Volume 16900 (1942/09-1943/05)
Reference: RG24, National Defence, Series C-3, Volume 16901 (1943/06-1944/05)
Reference: RG24, National Defence, Series C-3, Volume 16902 (1944/06-1945/05)
Reference: RG24, National Defence, Series C-3, Volume 16903 (1945/06-1946/04)

If you know Hamilton, the school was located on the east side of Kenilworth Avenue, just north of the Canadian National railway overpass on Kenilworth Avenue North (slightly north of the intersection of Barton Street & Kenilworth)

Hope this helps.

Cheers

[Jholl72]

Hi Mark,
Thanks for taking the time to help me out. That information is exactly what I was looking for.
Is that information available on the Archives website? I did the usual forum searches and internet searches and didn't find that. I will have to check out the files you mentioned.
Thanks again for your help.

[Mark W. Tonner]

Originally Posted by Jholl72

Is that information available on the Archives website?

The file references for the school War Diary are available on the Archives website. The information concerning the ‘authorization’, ‘re-designation’ and ‘disbandment’ dates under General Orders is from my publication On Active Service, published by Service Publications; Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, located here: http://www.servicepub.com/. The rest of the information is from my own (ongoing) research notes concerning the Canadian Army during the period of August 1939 to September 1947.

Cheers

[Jholl72]

All right, I will order a copy of your book from service pub. I just ordered some books from there and didn't see your title. It showed up on a search of the website just now.
I appreciate you sharing the fruits of your research and hard work.

[Mark W. Tonner]

Originally Posted by Jholl72

All right, I will order a copy of your book from service pub. I just ordered some books from there and didn't see your title. It showed up on a search of the website just now.
I appreciate you sharing the fruits of your research and hard work.

I was about to edit my post ... but you replied already

I had forgot to add that the file references for the school War Diary are located here: http://data4.collectionscanada.gc.ca...e.html&r=0&f=S, on the Library and Archives Canada website.

I'm getting slow I guess ...

Cheers