Worthington Park Stuarts

[Jason Ginn]

I was looking into the M5a1's at CFB Borden and I have been presented with a question that I can't seem to find an answer to.

Does anyone know when the Stewart's were added to the Worthy Memorial? He was interred there in late 1967 or early 68 but were the M5A1'a part of the base collection and added at the time of his burial, or were they a later addition?

Does anyone know if the tanks are stripped internally or basically complete?

I have copies of the MDAP documents from 1954 that show our "immediate desire" to divest ourselves of the Stuarts, and the subsequent Portuguese requests for the 96 we had listed in Inventory, but these two tanks remain questions. They are on Peter Fords 1946 list of 90 serial no's transferred to Canada but also appear to have been held back from the 1955/56 transfer to Portugal. In Portugal it is generally accepted that they received 90 M5A1's from Canada so 6 would have been held back.

I have read on one of the old MLU threads that these two tanks may have been recovered by DND from Levys yard for inclusion in the memorial, but i have no solid source for that claim. If they were reduced to spares prior to the MDAP transfer one would imagine that they had given up some of their internals by that time to be used in the spares program by DND or the one Levys was running.

Of course the other surviving Levy/ Elliotts M5A1 poses other questions as its recorded serial does not appear on the 1946 list of 90.

I've attached a 2005 pic by Bruce Forsyth to illustrate the memorial.

Thnx. J

[Colin Alford]

Jason,

I am not currently co-located with much of my relevant reference material, but will attempt to roughly address some of your questions.

The RCAC War Memorial (the monument flanked by the M5A1s) was erected in what is now known as Worthington Park shortly after the war (I think it was 1948). The two early images of the memorial that I have seen were taken from short range and aren’t wide enough to show the areas were the tanks are located.

I believe the M5A1s have been flanking the memorial since the early 1950s. If this is correct then they would not have been included with those sent to Portugal, and would have no connection to Levy’s/Elliots.

If my memory serves me correctly, This book:

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/143816763977...yABEgKtHvD_BwE

contains a couple of images of a parade which are key to determining the date that the Stuarts were placed in the park. I believe the images show the Stuarts flanking the monument during a roll past of M4A1 Grizzly Tanks and Grizzly APCs.

I will attempt to provide better date information soon.

I believe that the vehicles are at least partially stripped (no engines), this seems to correspond with many of the early monuments in Worthington Park.

Colin

[Colin Alford]

I have located one of the pieces of evidence.

I do not remember the source of this image but I believe I found it on the internet a few years ago.

I did not recall that one of the M5A1s was visible in the image.

I certainly have no means of determining if the date is correct.

More to follow (probably not tonight though).

[Ed Storey]

The BD uniforms in the photograph are of the correct style for 1949.

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Ed Storey

The BD uniforms in the photograph are of the correct style for 1949.

What do you say that? The open collar BD, though rare, could date to 1949 (I have one dated 1947)? These look like WW2 pattern but that's not surprising.

[Ed Storey]

Originally Posted by Bruce Parker

What do you say that? The open collar BD, though rare, could date to 1949 (I have one dated 1947)? These look like WW2 pattern but that's not surprising.

They are not open-collar BD, but wartime closed-collar BD that is being worn open-collar with a shirt and tie, which was correct for the period. The first open-collar Canadian BD Pattern was indeed 1947 and this was followed up by the 1949 Pattern. Both people in the photograph are wearing wartime BD Trousers with the small right thigh mounted First Field Dressing pocket.

[Jason Ginn]

Wow ok that's interesting! If the date is correct on the pic then they were pretty new tanks when they were put there. We had only had them for 3 years at the time! Those two are on the 1946 list of those purchased from the US.

That is the earliest pic that I have seen of the 1946 Purchase M5A1's.

When was the Memorial created? I suppose sometime after 1945 and obviously before 1950.

Thanks so much!