Looking Back: A Kid, a Cop, and a Hand Grenade
By Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Thobo-Carlsen (Retired), CMPA Director of History & Heritage.
The cover of the 23 March 1962 edition of der Flugplatz, the magazine of No. 3 Fighter Wing, RCAF Station Zwiebrücken, Germany, featured an interesting picture of an RCAF policeman, a young boy, and a hand grenade over the caption of "Dangerous Find". The boy was Harold Skaarup, a name familiar to many older MP veterans. In 1971, 'Hal' joined the reserve component of the Canadian Armed Forces' new dual-function Security Branch as an intelligence officer. After transferring to the regular force in 1983, into the newly separated Intelligence Branch, he twice served as a staff member with the Canadian Forces School of Intelligence and Security in Borden—first in 1984 and later in the early 1990s.[1] Hal kindly provided us with the backstory to this der Flugplatz cover.
Harold's father was a member of the RCAF and in 1962 their family lived not far from the 3 Wing airfield in Zwiebrücken.[2] Eleven year old Hal was out hunting for fossils in a nearby field with an adult neighbour who was a rock hound. While scouring an area where his neighbour had previous found fossils, Hal spotted the grenade. Recalling the numerous lectures given at the base school about the dangers posed by the various types of military ordinance that frequently turned up in the region—including unexploded munitions from two World Wars, jettisoned aircraft fuel tanks and debris from crashed RCAF fighter jets—Hal stopped right where he was until the neighbour drew him back and the two got out of the field with wary eyes still cast toward the small bomb.
|
The next day the school principal summoned young Hal from his classroom, and he was met by Corporal Armand E. Precoor from the station's Air Force Police section. Far from being in trouble, the youngster was asked to accompany the service policeman back to the site along with a base photographer to make a photo story for der Flugplatz about unexploded ordinance safety. Hal believes the grenade was later assessed by the base ordinance disposal team to be inactive, although the story he was told at the time was that it had been destroyed in place (perhaps as a way to dissuade other less cautious children from touching such objects if found in the future).
Corporal Precoor would have been particularly attuned to the dangers of unexploded ordinance since he had previously served in the RCAF during the Second World War. He subsequently rejoined the air force as a service policeman in the 1950s—serving in Hamilton ON, North Bay ON, Goose Bay NL, Toronto (Downsview) ON, Zwiebrücken, Calgary AB, Comox BC, Kamloops BC, and finally Moose Jaw SK where he retired in 1973 as a Sergeant. Armand Precoor passed away in 1979.
|
Hal Skaarup retired from the CAF after 40 years of combined reserve and regular force service, but he remains very active in the military history arena and has authored numerous books, including a 3-volume set on the history of Canadian Military Intelligence. This series has detailed coverage of the period from 1968 to 1981 when all Military Police and Intelligence occupations fell within the dual-function Security Branch. Hal currently maintains an extensive online history blog that includes a page dedicated to the Canadian Provost Corps (silverhawkauthor.com/post/canadian-military-history-canadian-provost-corps-c-pro-c), and another which commemorates an uncle who served in the Provost Corps (silverhawkauthor.com/post/estabrooks-frederick-w-canadian-provost-corps).[3]
----------
Notes:
1. The Canadian Forces School of Intelligence and Security (CFSIS) in Borden, ON was the predecessor of both the Canadian Forces Military Police Academy (Borden, ON) and the Canadian Forces School of Military Intelligence (Kingston, ON). CFSIS conducted all military police, security and intelligence training for the Canadian Armed Forces from 1968 until 1999.
2. In March 1953, No. 3 (Fighter) Wing Zwiebrücken was the second RCAF base to open in continental Europe during the Cold War, It followed the stand-up of No. 2 (Fighter) Wing at Grostenquin, France in October 1952. No. 4 (Fighter) Wing Baden-Soellingen, Germany opened a year later in September 1953. The town of Zwiebrücken is located in the southwest of Germany in Rhineland-Palatinate, adjacent to the Lorrain region of France. The town was largely destroyed during the Second World War but was rebuilt and is now a small city of 35,000 inhabitants. The USAF took over the Zwiebrücken airbase when Canada vacated it in 1969, and operated there until 1991. For more info see www.rcaf-arc.forces.gc.ca/en/article-template-standard.page?doc=a-1963-snapshot-of-1-air-division-europe/jgb8c4xo
3. Harold Skaarup retired from the Regular Force as a Major on 8 Aug 2011. He was later appointed as Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel for 3 Intelligence Company in Halifax, and was back in uniform in that capacity from 1 Feb 2015 to 1 Feb 2018.
Notes:
1. The Canadian Forces School of Intelligence and Security (CFSIS) in Borden, ON was the predecessor of both the Canadian Forces Military Police Academy (Borden, ON) and the Canadian Forces School of Military Intelligence (Kingston, ON). CFSIS conducted all military police, security and intelligence training for the Canadian Armed Forces from 1968 until 1999.
2. In March 1953, No. 3 (Fighter) Wing Zwiebrücken was the second RCAF base to open in continental Europe during the Cold War, It followed the stand-up of No. 2 (Fighter) Wing at Grostenquin, France in October 1952. No. 4 (Fighter) Wing Baden-Soellingen, Germany opened a year later in September 1953. The town of Zwiebrücken is located in the southwest of Germany in Rhineland-Palatinate, adjacent to the Lorrain region of France. The town was largely destroyed during the Second World War but was rebuilt and is now a small city of 35,000 inhabitants. The USAF took over the Zwiebrücken airbase when Canada vacated it in 1969, and operated there until 1991. For more info see www.rcaf-arc.forces.gc.ca/en/article-template-standard.page?doc=a-1963-snapshot-of-1-air-division-europe/jgb8c4xo
3. Harold Skaarup retired from the Regular Force as a Major on 8 Aug 2011. He was later appointed as Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel for 3 Intelligence Company in Halifax, and was back in uniform in that capacity from 1 Feb 2015 to 1 Feb 2018.