By Patrick Hampson, Special to the Times Chronicle
The following is a testimonial from Oliver Legion 2nd Vice-President Patrick Hampson.
I joined the Canadian Army Reserves, Royal Canadian Electrical/Mechanical Engineers in the early 1960’s.
Part of our job was to attend yearly training sessions, amusingly called “concentrations.” The one which comes to mind was in Vernon as this was the first time I had experienced real Okanagan heat.
We drove up the Hope/Princeton Highway from Vancouver in convoy at a mind boggling 64 km/h; this was the maximum speed you could get out of the 1942 tandem axle wrecker machine lorry and a three-quarter ton lorry.
We made it to Vernon and transferred our kit bags into barracks and went to the canteen to eat dinner while wondering what trouble we could find ourselves in now that we were off duty.
Someone suggested we hike downtown to Vernon and hit one of the local bars. For those who haven’t had the experience, beer labels make a really good conversation topic. All this research leads to extreme beer consumption, and pretty soon I decided I had enough and belched my way out of the bar with determination to march up the hill back to camp. Being in bush dress guaranteed me attention from the Military Police as they toured around looking for unruly soldiers, so I started a brisk and soldierly march up the hill. Sure enough, the MPs came up on the other side of the road and slowed down to check me out. Glancing out the corner of my eye I realized they were laughing at me, but common sense told me I shouldn’t stop to ask why, so I continued marching, and they drove off.
When I finally got to my quarters I started to pull off my bush pants and discovered I had a half empty beer bottle in my pants pocket and a large patch of wet on the leg. It was then I realized I’d been marching up the hill with beer frothing out of my pocket. The MPs were laughing at the view of a smart looking soldier trying to march at 120 paces a minute with beer frothing out of his pocket.
On reflection, things could have been much worse; I could have been arrested and charged with conduct unbecoming of a Canadian Armed Forces soldier.
