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The Former CFB Chilliwack - Whats Happening

Cdnronin

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I thought I would pass on the status of the former CFB Chilliwack for all those who have passed through the base over the past 50 years. I'm sure many memories are held by many.
There have been a lot of changes to the area. Lets start:
1.  Canex, both base chapels, Dental Clinic, Medical Clinic, Guardhouse, Power plant, and all the old quarters for jr. ranks have all been torn down and removed.
2.  The old CFOCS and drill hall (and a couple of other buildings) are now the RCMP Training Academy for E Division. The old ammo dump is now a driving track for RCMP.
3.  The old base HQ is now the Canadian campus for the University of Peking. The first students will arrive from PRC this summer.
4. The rest of the military side of the base (except for the museum/old theatre, Bas Tpt and Base Supply) was sold to the province as a "Education Park', - it will be developed this year as part of the Fraser Valley University.
5.  The base recreation centre has been sold to the city, who will tear down down the old swimming pool and build a new one. The Rec centre will be come apart of the new Garrison Crossing Community Center.
6.  About 70% of the PMQs have been torn down or remodeled. Most have been moved with new roads built to re-configure the area for the 'Garrison Crossing' community plan. They are being sold (at $300K +) as they come on the market - price seems to be no problem.
7. There is a new and large shopping plaza planned for construction in the fall of 2007 (behind where the Medical/Dental Clinics were located).
8. The 1CER HQ building still remains the HQ for th ASU.  This week a Press Release announced that the Reserve Engineer Sqn is moving fro Abbotsford to Chwk (probably the old Base Transport building).
9. The 1000 yd rifle range and small arms ranges in Vedder have been cleared and sold.  There are two sub-divisions and a brand new High school where the ranges were.
Vedder Crossing which surrounds the former CFB has grown 10 fold since the base was closed. Many old soldiers will not recognize the area.  There are two new shopping plazas and a large number of businesses in the area. Housing has also exploded in the area.
I hope that brings many of you up date on whats happening in Chwk.      :salute:
 
Thanks for the update. I remember back in the summer of 96 or 97 I went  there for a week long fd ex and was shocked at the changes. I tried to find the small plaque a friend and I had put up on the wall at the Ocdts Mess but couldn't.

Being from the east coast when I first saw a Chilliwack map I couldn't believe all the contour lines  :eek:

Unfortunately, some of my memories, particularly from Friday and Saturday nights, are pretty fuzzy  :D

CFOCS 8409
 
This week a Press Release announced that the Reserve Engineer Sqn is moving fro Abbotsford to Chwk (probably the old Base Transport building).

I understood it was going to be the old BSup/BMaint, directly across from Wadi al Batin (ex 1CER).

Correction:

The old ammo dump is now a driving track for RCMP.

The track is located on what was previously the POL/CADC Compound and the Rigging Area. They also took a corner of the old Area 8.
You can see it clearly on Google Earth.

It's spooky to see the changes. Spending 17 years posted there firmly fixes things in your mind! I had just arrived at the ASU and a friend of mine wanted to show me the changes to the base. (I left when 1 CER was moved so everything was still in place.) He asked me to close my eyes and he drove to the SW corner of the Jr Ranks. He turned me to face west and in my mind I was expecting to see Pachino/Carpiquet etc, when I opened my eyes I guess the look on my face was priceless. I took me a long minute to comphrehend what I was seeing.  :eek:

Shouldn't renaming the Cheam Centre to "Garrison Crossing Community Centre" be classed as scarilege of somekind?  ;D





 
Makes me sad.  I did Basic Training there 7708 (broke my foot just before Ex Eagle Flight) and 7801. Was housed in Pachino Barracks for 7708 and when I recoursed on 7801 was the first class in the new CFOCS Bldg....we never did get the Mess finished and we still went to the B Mess. :'(

What did they do with the training area and  the rafting area up at Cultus Lk?
 
Don't know specifically. I saw the Boathouse and other buildings have been removed from the rafting area. Again I don't know if OpsEE still belongs to DND or not. I think I know what I'll be doing this summer. Time for another "Fun-Filled Family Vacation® "!  ;D
 
Was there just yesterday, just to take a peak. It's a shame, from what I saw of it, it was a nice base. Wasn't huge, but it had a nice feel to it.

What did they do with the training area and  the rafting area up at Cultus Lk?

Are you referring to SITE C? It's still there, in use by the reserves and cadet units.
 
OPSEE, AREA's A, B and C are still DND property. But they are no longer patrolled by the Commissionaries so who knows what will happened to the properties. Cadets and reserves still heavily rely on these areas for training.
 
I think the rafting area was turned over to the Province years ago, I was out on the lake and there was nothing standing there. Still some bridging sections lying on the bottom of the lake though.

Remember the grenade & rocket range? the area was wiped out by the river. Now this appeared in the local papaers


Bomb fears fizzle after rocket turns out to be a dud


   
 
ASU operations officer Terry Haley inspects a rocket with engineering officer Roy Lyonnais on the Soowahlie Reserve Wednesday as Norm Commodore (left) and nephew Larry Commodore look on. Norm Commodore found the rocket while fishing on the Chilliwack River on Monday. JENNA HAUCK/ PROGRESS


By Robert Freeman
The Progress
Feb 16 2007


An unexploded artillery shell found in the Chilliwack River sent shock waves through the Soowahlie First Nation Tuesday.

But it turns out the shell - a 3.5-inch rocket, to be precise - was a practice round and posed no danger, according to ordinance disposal officials at the Canadian military’s area support unit in Chilliwack.

“It was inert, safe to pick up and move around,” Master Warrant Officer Terry Haley said Wednesday.

He said the rocket was a practice round that contained no explosives, probably used during training at a former firing range operated at CFB Chilliwack before it closed in 1997.

“It was never meant to go boom,” he said, but to hone army troops’ skill at hitting tanks and other armoured vehicles.

Somehow, the rocket ended up among the rocks in the Chilliwack River where a Soowahlie fisherman found it Tuesday.

Chief Larry Commodore, who alerted the army disposal team, was relieved to learn the object posed no danger, but it was his understanding that the old firing range area had been “cleared” by defense department officials of any unexploded ordinance when the military base closed.

“We thought we were rid of them,” he says, but now he fears there could be more unexploded rockets, given the thousands that must have been fired over the years.

And the next one might not be a just a practice round.

“It’s not over yet,” he says, and he wants the military to look over the area again.

“We don’t want any band members - or anybody for that matter - tripping on a live one and betting blasted,” he says.

 
Area's  A,B and C are also known as Columbia Valley.

Good luck on clearing the old rocket range. It's spread out down to Delta by now from all the flooding. IIRC it was cleared in the 80's when it was closed.

Have fun with that, Terry!  ;D
 
I have a rocket range in my own backyard?!  I'm from Ladner and that's about as "Delta" as you can get, and no one told me about a rocket range.  :D

I was in Opsee about a month ago and will be going back in a few weeks.  It is definitely not patrolled as evidenced by the fact that one of the sections came across a poacher.

Has the grenade range drifted down to Delta by now?  It would be nice to visit home after tossing a few frags! ;)
 
There has been a tremendous amount of work done in the training areas here in Chilliwack in the past couple of months.  The old tpt bldg is owned by DND and is the proposed site for the new Res F Engr Sqn being stood up in Chilliwack.  There are still some lucky people posted here  ;D
 
Thanks for the update. I walked the base last September and hardly recognized the place.

  :salute: :cdn:
 
imahikergirl said:
There has been a tremendous amount of work done in the training areas here in Chilliwack in the past couple of months.  The old tpt bldg is owned by DND and is the proposed site for the new Res F Engr Sqn being stood up in Chilliwack.  There are still some luck people posted here  ;D

Would that be a stand alone Sqdn or a Troop of 6th field?
 
At the moment (unless it's already changed  ;D) it's functioning as a troop of 6Fd.

It will be a stand alone Engineer Support Squadron once they've met some recruiting targets and finished getting their infrastructure in place.  That will give BC two Fd Eng Sqns (6 and 44), an ESS, and the Airfield Eng Flight at Abbotsford.

I understand there's been some teething issues with the new ESS, but that they're slowly being overcome.

DF

 
Excellent news, glad to hear about some growth, the area has the population to support the units.
 
Pte (R) B said:
I have a rocket range in my own backyard?!  I'm from Ladner and that's about as "Delta" as you can get, and no one told me about a rocket range.  :D

I was in Opsee about a month ago and will be going back in a few weeks.  It is definitely not patrolled as evidenced by the fact that one of the sections came across a poacher.

Has the grenade range drifted down to Delta by now?  It would be nice to visit home after tossing a few frags! ;)

I'm from Ladner too - I didn't know there were any military facilities in Delta... I thought the closest was the arsenal and DND owned forest property in Richmond.
 
They're also getting some "old" sappers back to BC as the RSS/RFC/TLA of the day, which is really great to hear, some excellent corporate experience, and some "old" sappers getting back to their youthful haunts   >:D

I've heard Teddy is one of them, but I've already forgotten the names of the others.

DF

There's no rocket range in Delta or Ladner, what he was saying was that rounds may have been washed downstream into Delta and Ladner, not that there's a facility there.

There's still rounds that wash up in the Okanagen from Vernon and other sites, and that hasn't been a mortar range in decades.
 
There's actually a former DND installation in Ladner, just north of Boundary Bay.  I've been in there -its fairly accessible and there's nothing secret.  In fact...there's nothing much at all...its been closed since 1971.

Coincidentally, some of the units in the lower mainland sometimes use the south-east of Boundary Bay Airport for training.  And there are explosives stored there, but they belong to a demolition company.

Hehe...maybe I should scout out along the river and see if I can find some rounds.
 
Pte (R) B said:
There's actually a former DND installation in Ladner, just north of Boundary Bay.  I've been in there -its fairly accessible and there's nothing secret.  In fact...there's nothing much at all...its been closed since 1971.

Coincidentally, some of the units in the lower mainland sometimes use the south-east of Boundary Bay Airport for training.  And there are explosives stored there, but they belong to a demolition company.

Hehe...maybe I should scout out along the river and see if I can find some rounds.

Boundary Bay Airport itself was a WW2 training installation ... the decommissioned end of one of the runways is used by LEOs for driver training.
 
Thanks for the update I was with 1CER from Feb,1983 till Summer 89. Moved over to CFSME mine warfare and demolitions cell as instructor. I was there for a short time had a motor vehicle accident August 19, 1990 on Prest road. I was in a coma and my wife died my daughters were ok thank God.I was medically released Feb 1992 and moved back home to Sydney Cape Breton Island Nova Scotia Feb 1994. I have been out there 3 times before the base was closed down and once since it was closed but my daughter was graduating and did not have enough time to take a close look. I was at 13 Coguitlam  PMQ until I was released. I wonder what happen to the demolition range up on Sarse. I have a brain injury do to accident so please forgive my miss spelling please. CHIMO
The former Mcpl Donald Francis House
 
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