Beyond the Ranks - Sea & Navy Cadets

Good evening everyone and welcome back to the Love the North podcast. I'm your host Michael Richardson, local author and a bit of a historian buff, if I will.

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We are here tonight to talk about military and military heritage and the next generation perhaps focusing mostly on cadets.(...) If you like what you're seeing tonight, please feel free to subscribe to the podcast.

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The details will be on the channel. Joining me tonight are our guests.

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I have Jerry Bradley and Graham Bromley. They're both members of the Anavetz organization, which we had done a previous show with just Graham and I where we describe a little bit about that. So we're going to talk about that tonight, but as well,(...) Jerry has been a member of the Navy League for a rather long time and he is here to share his story and experiences with us this evening and we're very lucky to have him here. Gentlemen, thank you so much for joining me.

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So I think what we'll do to start, Jerry, for those including myself who aren't overly familiar with the Navy League and what that's all about, if you can tell us a bit about that and what their main mission and purpose would be, and we'll go from there.

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Okay.(...) The Navy League is a civilian body that sponsors the two cadet killers in Sudbury, the Navy League cadets, nine to twelve, and they see cadets twelve to eighty until their eighteenth birthday.

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It's been growing since 1943 and quietly, except one day when we do help the Legion when they have their poppy sales and we look after Costco, so that's where we're there.

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The week after the main drag in the city, we look after Costco for the Branch 76 and(...) with cadets and officers and some members of Navy League.

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So that's the only time that we're really out in the open, except annual inspection, which is coming up shortly. Oh, very cool. They'll be there as sponsoring bodies. Oh, very nice. Now, do the officers for the Navy cadets come from the Navy League or is it completely separate? Navy Cadets are separate officers. They don't hold a commission at all with anybody, where the sea cadet officers actually hold a commission and are employed by the Department of National Defense. Oh, wow. Okay. Very interesting. Now, the annual inspection, you did touch on that. I have a little experience from my youth. I was in air cadets. Sorry, don't hold that against me.

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But I'm not overly familiar with what the sea cadets do, and we will get into that if you'll indulge me. But the annual inspection coming up, for those of you who don't know, every year at the end of the season, if you will, the cadet squadrons do a parade, if you will. This is open to the public and it's there for the young men and women in the squadron to show off their talents for drill.

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Often the band will play if there's a band associated with the squadron. So their annual inspection is coming up for the Sudbury Squadron.

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When exactly is that? Let's let the people know about this one. It's on a Monday night, June the 8th at the Sudbury Armory.

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Now, it's a combined inspection with the Navy cadets and the sea cadets. Used to have separate inspections, but now we combine them.(...) And the sea cadets are actually marked on their display what they do. And it ends up we've had a top cadet corps in Canada five times. Wow. So in a long time since 1943.

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So it's something that we look forward to and the cadets look forward to it as well. It should be their best night of the year. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Are there any special reviewing officers that come down for the inspection? Yes, they usually have an officer from out of town.(...) I don't know this year if the man is going to make it so I won't name him. Just in case? It's hard, especially when you're dealing with the Department of National Defense.

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They could be here today and somewhere else, somewhere else. Absolutely. We missed today,(...) but the Navy cadets will have usually a former commanding officer or so to do their inspection. Nice. Is there a band with the local squadron?

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No, for the first year. Oh. Well, actually, since the epidemic we had a little while ago, we haven't had a band. And we had a band in Sudbury. We were probably one of the best-known bands because we were here since 44 to about three years ago.

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So we haven't had a band. That's a shame. As a matter of fact, when I was commanding officer in 1971, I had a 45-piece band and another 50 or 60 cadets besides. So we were quite a--now today,(...) they're down to 30-some cadets.

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They're hoping to enlarge their core and recruit a few more people.

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Actually, now they recruit girls as well. Well, since 1975, we've been girls.

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So it's made a big difference.

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If a young person was thinking about joining the cadets, what can they anticipate from that experience? Do they meet more than once a week?(...) And what do they do during the weekly parade?

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Well,(...) as announced,(...) once or twice a week,(...) in Sudbury, our C-Cadetical work operates three or four times a week. Oh, wow.(...) Usually, we have a boathouse here, so the sailing takes place on Saturday and Sunday. Oh, very nice. And you still have cadets on Monday and Tuesday, so they're busy the whole week, really. So on those weekends, is that--I'm guessing they don't do sailing in December and January. We are the Sailing Center for Northern Ontario. Wow. Sue St. Reed, Timmons North Bay, Nantua and I, they come here for their sailing. Is that done at Ramsey Lake or-- Right across from Science North. On that little peninsula, I guess, that sticks out. On the corner is the Sailing Club, but we're right in there. We've just spent a fair amount of money, I'd say around $80,000, repairing the boat-- Oh, boathouse is 40 years old, so it needed a new roof and it needed us to keep going because we're so busy using the boathouse.

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Even in the wintertime, we'll have classes in the boathouse because we're having a furnace put in, so it'll be a heated building. Interesting. And we're ready to accommodate cadets during the winter as well. So they can learn sailing techniques,(...) any powerboat activity? Yes, we have a couple of powerboats. We use safety boats when they are sailing craft for road. We have a safety boat out with them in case--(...) Now, they're taught how to reroute a boat in which it turns over, but in case we get out of more trouble, then we have a safety boat right here. Very nice, very nice. And they don't have to pay to be members or anything like that, eh? As members of the Navy of the Cadets or the Sea Cadets, there's no weekly, monthly, or yearly fare. Now, we saw memberships in the Navy League and a lot of parents pay $20 a year for a membership. Not required, but gladly accepted. Appreciated, yeah, I'm sure. Now, the Monday and Tuesday evening activities, what do they largely consist of? Monday is the official night when they have to follow their line of training as laid down by the

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Department of National Defense, and we have to follow that. Tuesday is extras that we're getting ready for, and so the boys and girls are very busy with their midlife. Sounds like it, yeah. Along comes the summer.

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If they're home, they can go sailing every week down the boat house.(...) However, we have a couple of sailing centers where the cadets can go to.(...) Main one now is down near Barrie,(...) and that's the main one for Sea and Army Cadets. And then, of course, we have a training center near Halifax, and we also have the HMCS Quadra, which is stationed out on Vancouver Island. Oh, wow, okay. And we've had as many as 10 or 15, you know, one of those camps every year until this. Until COVID. And they cut back on some of the training.

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Now, HMCS Ontario is stationed at Kingston, at the Military College at Kingston, and that's our sailing center.(...) So those who are going to be sailors can get six weeks there.

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What size ship is that?(...) Well, it's just material.

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It's a base. It's a base. Okay. Bases are also for management.(...) His management is Canadian ship.

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So it's a land-based ship. Gotcha, okay. So on the either side of the coast, are there any naval vessels that the cadets would actually serve on and train on?

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They'll get out on a vessel of some sort. Wow. Either coast.(...) And I've been to both coasts, of course, over the years, and have been on a number of different ships for the adventure. And to find out what it's all about,(...) because we've had a number of cadets going into the horses straight from cadets right into the Navy. Mm-hmm. One year, we had 20, 30 years ago,(...) the Weber National Defense came up with a

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joint up at 16.(...) Wow.(...) And we guaranteed a Petty Officer's second class in three years.(...) Which means all of a sudden, 19 or early 20s, there were Petty Officers second class. They eat in the same mess as the rest of the P-2s,(...) some of them who are 25 and 30 years in the Navy, and they're just, it took that long for them to... Wow. So it's quite an experience for them.(...) And as a matter of fact, we just, well,(...) he just passed away out in British Columbia. He retired. He went in.(...) Sur has 20 years, retired,(...) and ended up living in the west coast of Vancouver Island.

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And he used to come home to Sudbury every couple of years.

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He did a couple of years ago, and his mother passed away.(...) But he passed away just last year. Excuse me. He was a long-time cadet who deserved what he got and got what he deserved. That's good. That's good. Sounds like a hell of an experience.(...) So a kid and his teens can serve aboard a ship, at least get that experience, get his feet in the water, if you will. Well, we used to...(...) When I was commanding officer, I used to send between two and four people to the cadets every winter on winter cruises.

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Wow. Two-month cruise. Oh, my. And they'd become part of the ship and do their duty whatever they're assigned to.(...) And it was fantastic.

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And now they still get to see the odd time. I think the last one was up...

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One going up north with the ice fighters.

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And maybe a week or two on board.

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Quite an experience. I was going to say, even that would be a heck of an experience.(...) Absolutely. That's fantastic.

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You've been serving for so long, I must assume there's been a bit of a change between when you started and where we are today.

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Do you think it's been changes for the better by any chance, dare I ask?

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It probably is a change for the better, but I joined in 1946. Wow.(...) The war was just over.

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It was 100 and some cadets.

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You didn't just walk in. You had to apply and wait for it to be hauled up.(...) And they used to bring in 20 cadets at a time.(...) Every couple weeks, they'd bring 20 cadets in.

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And you were graduating 20 cadets every so long as well. So it was quite the thing.

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And today, it's a lot of difference.

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They come in for...

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They know they're in for once a week, which turns out to be three or four times a week. But even the parents don't mind that at all because they're good at driving them. And with our boat house at Ramsey, we've had a boat house on Ramsey for 60 years.

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We were across the bay where Science North is right now. That was our first boat house. Okay. So when they were going to take over that area for Science North,

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they said, "Well, we can't just boot them out." So they'll move the boat house across the bay, put a 200 amp electrical service on,

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and really made a job of it. That was 40 years ago. So without heating the building and with some of the snowfalls we've had like this year,(...) the roof eventually needed to be better than repaired, replaced. And this year was a big deal in 2025, right through till now. They're still working on it. They'll be putting a new furnace in so it will be warm in the wintertime too. Now the funding for that, was that raised by the public? Was it money from the Department of National Defense or was it a combination of the two?

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Well, the Department of National Defense, actually, they supply the boats and they supply, of course, the training, the officers.(...) But the boat house itself belongs to the Navy League. We had to build that boat house until Science North would have cost. It improved it for us 40 years ago.

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And there's a lot of expense in running a building, as people know.(...) So this past year, they had a drive and they raised over $80,000 and put a new roof on and new insides and they've done a lot and they're still doing some more. Wow. When, is that an annual drive that they do this for fundraising? We used to have an annual drive called the Navy League Tag Day. Right. And that would bring in $4,000 or $5,000.(...) That was operating expenses back then. Right. Operating expenses now are a little different.

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You know, in the boat house, we pay for water and hydroplane and sewage.(...) We have to take our sewage away. So there's an ongoing expense that the Navy League itself has to come up with money for. Okay. So do you do a set fundraising event or is it just throughout the year you're always available to accept donations? Well, the last number of years, we haven't had any real fundraising events out of it. Maybe a tag day every second of the year or so, where you're raised to $4,000 or $5,000,

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which certainly wasn't enough. And our membership fee in the Navy League is $20 a year.

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It'd be nice if you had a thousand members.

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It makes me different. But we don't have a thousand members. We have almost 200 members. Still that's respectable. So at $20, there's another $4,000 that comes in there.

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But we accept donations of any kind, from anybody. Absolutely. I would say so. Well, we'll need to think of a way that we can perhaps support that effort and try and drive some more attention your way for sure.

Do you think that, do you have a particular favorite funny story from all your time in the serbs? I've been told every soldier has a funny story. So not to put you on the spot. But our top story is in 1975,(...) we had Admiral Monk Batten himself come to Sudbury. Wow.

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I thought we'd won the National Award five times.(...) And the National Award used to arrive at the air base here at the radar station in a wooden box.

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The commanding officer of the Air Force Station would come in and make the presentation to the Corps and put it back in the box afterwards.

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We held on to it for a year, didn't do much with it, because we didn't have a good place to display it.

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That was probably the highlight of our whole career. I can imagine. Having the admiral himself. When in fact,(...) I asked, it was in September and I asked the President of Ontario Division,

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what are the chances of us getting the admiral himself?

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I'll let you know in a couple days.(...) He got on the phone the next day and spoke to the admirals. "Are you coming to North America?"(...) "Yes, I'm going over in October." "Oh, could you come to Sudbury for a minute to make this presentation?"

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"Well, I'm going to have dinner with 86 admirals in Washington on the 15th." "But I'm available on the 16th of October."

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"Okay, then you can go to Sudbury." "Well, this was 10th or 15th of September." "We had a month to get ready." (Laughter) And we did.(...) We had about a 35-piece band meet him at the... He flew into Sudbury. Right.

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The military police drove him to the air base and they had nice facilities there and everything.(...) It turned out fantastic.(...) It threw something at the commanding officer of the radar station. All of a sudden,(...) he's got authority and he's going to look after an admiral. Absolutely. It was more than just...

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It turns out at that time the radar station came under CFP North Bay, Winnipeg. And unbeknownst to most of us,(...) they had five different snipers up in the hills,

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armed and ready and encased. And the base was closed off the day before,(...) so unless you lived on the base, you couldn't get on the base.(...) And it was quite a thing for that.(...) He said to me, "You know, Jerry,(...) this is either going to make me or break me." (Laughter) It was quite a thing that he had the admiral.

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That was our top. But we've had some fantastic trips.(...) A year after he was assassinated,(...) we organized a trip to England.

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And 125 people flew to England and spent 10 days in Romsey where Monbatten's home was(...) and visited the home and they did sailing. And then we visited London, of course, and it was a very exciting time for 125 people.

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Roughly, I think we had 100 cadets and about 25 adults. The company, a couple of parents came and it was really a super trip. Absolutely. That was our biggest one-day trip. We did go to Florida one year. Wow. 10 years in Florida and we went to Cape Canaveral. Oh, wow.

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We saw what eventually ended up in the air.

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We were in the room that only connoisseurs were allowed to see. We got to see this thing that eventually ended up in the skies. That's fantastic. So that was quite exciting for us. And we flew down.(...) We went down by bus that time.

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125 people and two buses.

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It was quite a trip.

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I think of 125 people, only five or six people who had ever been to Florida before.

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So it was quite a deal in February to go actually get into swimming in the ocean. I bet, yeah. It was a real deal for the cadets. And they've had trips out west to Edmonton to the naval base.

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Actually, it's a regular force base now in Edmonton.

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So they've had some fantastic trips.

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And they still get away one or two at a time now on some special trips. But things are picking up again. Well, that's good. Well, yeah, we definitely need to support the Navy League and the Navy Cadets. It's an experience that kids won't find anywhere else, I don't believe.

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They'll be there soon. In the cadet organization in general. But if you're into aquatic pursuits, if you want to learn how to sail,(...) if you want to learn discipline for your children or anything like that, the cadets is an excellent way to do it. It doesn't obligate you to join the regular force military after that. But it does give them a taste of it and to see if it's something that they would be interested.

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Gentlemen, I can't thank you enough for joining me tonight. Jerry, Graham, thank you so much for your time. We'll definitely see what we can do to help encourage kids to come out and see you. And maybe for some adults to come and join the Navy League.(...) Thank

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