With Thanks to 12290 Rob Gundling
During our era, military college cadets were loaded onto the BOTC (Basic Officer Training Course) after completing first-year college. Thus, a couple of weeks following the college graduation parade, we all arrived in Borden, Ontario for the 12-week course. It was during this course that Jim Manton and I became fast friends. We ended teaming up during a number of events ... including the escape-and-evasion, base defence force, and insurgency exercises ... each one involving plenty of humour and some notoriety!
We had all heard rumours about the Escape and Evasion Exercise even before we got to Borden ... about how nasty the treatment was if one got caught and thrown into the POW camp. I had also learned that it would begin without warning ... i.e. it was not specifically detailed in the course training plan given to us ... and that we would be strip-searched before beginning the exercise. So, when we received our combat clothing at course start, I immediately began to look for a way to conceal some money so that it could not be found. Finally, I hit upon an idea. Our combat boots were double-lined, having an inner leather lining in addition to the regular outer covering. So, I cut a small slit in the inner liner as far up the toe as I could reach, then folded a $20 bill into the size of a postage stamp, wrapped it in plastic, and inserted it into the slit. The alteration could not be seen from the outside. I did not relate this to anyone ... not even my roommate, nor Jim ... for fear of my deception leaking out.
Anyway, sure enough ... I believe in the fifth week ... we were rudely interrupted one evening, ordered to dress in our combats, and then formed up on the parade square. There, surrounded by military police and the like, we were herded in small groups into a building and strip-searched ... all the while having to endure verbal bullying. After re-donning our combats, we were marched onto buses.
As the bus commenced to roll, one of the instructors began to recite the mission briefing using SMEAC (a tool for Situation Analysis: Situation; Mission; Execution; Administration; Command and Control). It went something like this: We were soon-to-be escaped prisoners (dropped off from the bus). If we wanted to retain our freedom, we would have to cross the finishing line within two days without being captured. We were not to accept ... nor use ... any outside help. As our instructor was talking, we were each handed a small-scale map of the exercise area. If I remember correctly, our start line was along Route 13 westward from Wiarton ... the finish was a diagonal line across Bruce Peninsula just north of Miller Lake ... a distance of some 40+ kilometers.
When the briefing was finished, our escorts (guards!) came around and put pillowcases over our heads, and silence was henceforth strictly enforced. I do not remember exactly when, but Jim and I had somehow already conveyed to each other that we would try to join up after being released ... but that would not be easy to accomplish with us sitting on the bus in silence and blind-folded ... and with Jim being seated on the other side of the aisle a couple of rows ahead of me. Anyway, after a good hour and a half of movement and us sitting there in silence, the bus stopped, and the first cadets were removed. Thereafter the bus came to a halt every 30 seconds or so and the next pair “thrown off.” I listened intently as the bus began to empty from the front. Jim made some kind of noise ... a cough or something like that ... when he was removed. I was then released three stops later ... so probably some 500-600 meters ahead. I cannot remember who was dropped off with me, but he did not want to back-track the route, so we parted ways right then and there. It was pretty dark ... overcast and not much of a moon that night ... as I began to jog eastwards, hoping Jim would be heading west. It did not take long for us to meet ... after passing a couple of other prisoners, Jim and I almost ran into each other in the darkness. Jim’s drop-off partner had stayed with him ... a Quebecois CMR cadet whose name I believe was André Matteau. So, the three of us set off westwards, then northwards along the first dirt track we found. Being so dark it was not easy-going even when on a road, but I think we made reasonable headway, nonetheless. That being stated, our first priority ... our only priority ... was not to get caught -- to hell with the finish line!
We must have been trekking for three or four hours before deciding to take an extended break ... and got off the track some 30 meters into the woods. There we lay down and tried to get in a snooze, but the mosquitos and flies were incessant. And then it started to rain. So off again, now soaking wet! We had been mostly zigzagging ... the rural roads here spaced roughly one mile apart in fairly dense forest ... no real structures or homes to be seen, but every so often a pond or small lake. With dawn now quickly approaching, we knew that if we stayed on the road the chances of being caught would increase dramatically. Thus, as it became light enough to see features at a distance, we decided to get off the road. With a myriad of snowmobiling trails crisscrossing all over the place, we picked one and entered into the woodlands. We did this for the remainder of the day ... real tough going sometimes ... but we were fairly certain that we were safe this far back in the woods. I remember, early on, following this trail for what must have been a good hour ... then coming onto a dirt road ... only to discover that it was same road we had left some 3 to 4 hundred meters further back! Anyway, we were careful when approaching / crossing vehicle roads ... always surveying the area before exposing ourselves in the open, and then racing across to regain cover.
Of course, hunger was by now setting in ... we would have foraged, begged, borrowed, or stolen food had any become available ... but none did. Despite the lack of detail on the maps that were given to us, we had a pretty good idea where we were ... and by late afternoon risked approaching a built-up area to see if we could find some sustenance. We cut over towards the village of Pike Bay and soon caught glimpse of a mom/pop grocery store along the lake shore. After surveying the area for around 15 minutes from behind a beach berm, I was ready to risk exposure and ventured out, with the $20 bill in hand that had been retrieved from my boot liner. I entered the store trying to appear as normal as possible despite wearing wet combats. The citizens of the region had of course been informed of our exercise, and the cashier behind the counter looked at me with a knowing glance ... and as she rang up the purchases, she casually mentioned that a roadblock / observation post had been set up a couple of hours ago on the road just up ahead (to the north). I thanked her and hurried back to the berm. The store did not have much selection ... but I did come out with a loaf of bread, a large block of cheddar cheese, bags of chips, chocolate bars, and some pop. We did not wait ... we wolfed everything down within minutes ... right there on the beach! Sated for the time being, we rested for a short period before heading back east into the forest, staying well clear and circumventing the area mentioned by the cashier. I guess we continued for another two or three hours ... into the early evening ... we stumbled upon a run-down barn set in the middle of a small wilderness clearing. The barn had obviously been abandoned years ago, for the piles of hay in the loft had moulded into greenish mats ... but it was still soft, and there were far fewer mosquitos up there than on the ground. I think all three of us fell asleep within minutes of lying down ... no, we did not take turns standing guard! I was woken up once that night by an owl not four meters away from me when it began hooting. But other than that, it was a fairly comfortable sleep. However, I got something of a surprise the next morning ... waking up at dawn, I glanced up and not more than a metre above my head were four small bats looking down at me, hanging from a rafter crossbeam ... HA!
You will note that as one moves up Bruce Peninsula it gets narrower ... and also more open! The ability to remain concealed became increasingly more difficult. Of course, the opposing force knew this ... knew the area much better than we did ... and so simply had to wait at strategic viewpoints to catch prisoners on the run. At around 0830 hrs that morning, we arrived out of the bush to the edge of a crossroad. Beyond the road was a shallow valley extending close to a kilometer up to a low ridge on the other side ... to the left and right mostly open fields and pasture. It was an obvious trap, so we held fast and scanned the surroundings for well over 30 minutes nothing moved. So … with reluctance we stood up and began running on a dirt lane across the expanse at full speed. We must have caught them napping! For Jim and I had reached the other side and were about 100 meters into the woodlands before a jeep came screaming up the lane from behind.
When the vehicle roared up behind us, in that instant Jim dashed off to the right and I turned to the left. While running, Jim turned to see all three jeep-occupants take off to the left and disappear deep into the forest chasing after me. He then waited a few moments, and then brazenly circled around and removed the distributor coil wire from the jeep before setting off to the right again! (As fanciful as it may seem, I now distinctly remember Jim pulling out the jeep coil wire from his pocket and showing me when the exercise was finished. Now that deserves a big HA!)
I ran as hard as I could for 10-15 minutes ... not stopping once to check if I was being followed. Finally, I stopped ... breathing heavy and sweating profusely, covered in grime and small nicks here-and-there ... listening for any noise or movement behind me ... none. Finally recovered, I assessed my now-alone situation. It was around 1000 hrs. in the morning ... still about 5 to 6 kilometers to go to the finish line ... which was supposed to be reached by 1300 hrs. Yah, easily accomplished if passage was unrestricted ... but I certainly was not going to risk exposure again and get caught. I risked crossing only one further regular road ... both shoulders flanked by thick brush at that spot. At some point I came across a sloped clearing in the forest ... and there in full sunshine was a welcome sight ... a large patch of wild raspberries with ripe fruit weighing down the branches. I am not a particular fan of raspberries, but here I took my time and ate a belly full ... it was good!
I waited until 1310 hrs (i.e. 10 minutes beyond exercise expiry time) before leaving protective cover and emerging onto a road. I continued to walk in a northerly direction, but at a leisurely pace for I was still at least three kilometers away from the stated finish line. It did not take long for an army truck to pull up in front of me, the driver shouting “halt, you are captured.” For a brief moment fear gripped me ... did they lie about the stop time? I reluctantly climbed into the back ... there were three other cadets already seated ... but it soon became clear that the exercise was over, and as such I relaxed. Not captured, Jim did not make it to the finishing line in-time either (although I do think he got closer than I did). When we arrived at the makeshift POW camp, they were already beginning to disassemble the tents etc. However, some of the prisoners were still chain-shackled to posts dug into a field, covers over their heads!
The POW stories that emerged afterwards reinforced my angst at being captured. There had been strip-searches, being hosed-down with cold water, made to stand knee-deep in mud, chain-shackled throughout the night exposed to the elements etc. Then there were the other stories: One of our RRMC classmates ... Ted Dillenberg, a long-distance runner ... started running as soon as he left the bus. He arrived at the finish line the next morning before the instructors had even finished setting-up the POW camp! Then there were a couple of other cadets that had grown up ... or had relatives ... in the vicinity. They of course had an easy time of it over the two days. One lucky cadet even spent the following day down in Toronto before being driven back and secretly dropped-off at the finish line. More power to them … HA!
We had achieved our only priority – not to get caught!