Metz, France

Kyle, Mel – (1959-1963)

1 Air Division Headquarters was surrounded by a fence. The main road passed through the Headquarters running east to west. The guard house was on the west side. At this point the road also turned left and proceeded around the north side of the HQ site and rejoined the main road on the east side of the fenced in area. The road proceeded east to a point where there was a "Y" in the road. The left fork at this junction went to the bunkers – one of them being the COC which was located at L’Ouvrage d’Ars. This unit was in operation when I arrived in late 1959 and it was still in operation in January 1963 when I returned to Canada. The right fork proceeded through the old mine fields where again – the road split. The right fork would take you to the Transmitter site at L’Ouvrage de Jury as well as the area that housed the Receiver site and the main Microwave site. Had you taken the left fork it would have taken you to 61 AC&W Squadron. 61 AC&W Squadron was also fenced in and it has the bonus of coiled barbed wire as well "Genny" who was the station mascot and security dog.

During my stay at Metz, the French built a concrete underground bunker that was attached to the Operations Room. One NCO was required to make a Security Round with an AFP of the area during each shift. We used a Volkswagen Mini Bus for the purpose. We made sure to stay on the roads as the area had been mined during World War II. The area was used as a cow pasture by a local farmer. I often wondered why he always sent his Algerian hired man to get the cows. Several mines were removed during the widening of a curve where the road made a right turn towards the Transmitter and Receiver sites.

Cpl. Bill Jarvis tells an interesting story of his experience in relieving a guard at the Receiver site during one of the Algerian uprisings. Out of the fog came an old Algerian looking for the farmers cows. Bill said he was not certain who was the most scared – the Algerian at the sight of Bill and his old Sten gun, or Bill at the sight of the Algerian during the uprising. No one was hurt, the Algerian was identified, the fog lifted, and I gather that the "cows went home".

Gammon (now Haines), Bonnie "Bunny" – (1959-1960)

I do remember some detail about the bunkers at Metz. I had a few friends who were FCO’s and Teletype Operators and I recall when a couple of the girls decided they would take a backpack with food and go on a little hiking trip through the bunkers to see what it would lead them to. This would have been in late 1959 or early 1960. Well – thankfully, one of their bosses insisted that a few of the guys follow them and luckily they did. The girls took a wrong turn and would have been completely lost. The bunkers were well constructed and would eventually lead you to many unknown locations. You can imagine how worried we all were at the time.

Usherwood, Curt – (1958-1962)

I recall a particular Fall-Ex exercise in 1961 when we were working 12 on and 12 off. I was in d'Ars Bunker where we worked normally day to day and Sgt. Joe Panagapka told me to get a ride over to Jury Bunker and bring back our vehicle that had been left there. Well - we used to spend a lot of time weekends exploring bunkers so I said, "Right Sgt. Can Bilodeau come with me?" Sure he said. So Gene Bilodeau and I got a couple flashlights and walked underground from d'Ars to Fort Jury, maybe 2 kms. We came up into SUTel ComTech work shop - you guessed it, where Larry Gerlach was working. After shooting the breeze we walked out through the bunker entrance that was a wall exploded outward in WW2, got in our VW van and drove the 30 or so yards down to the gate and we wanted out. The armed MPs led by a certain BIG Scots Cpl who I had had a run in with before, went apoplectic. They were on the lookout for infiltrators. Now here were two LACS wanting to drive a van out and the MPs knew we hadn't been in Fort Jury when the exercise started. Where the hell did we come from? Well of course we waffled and lied and they were so afraid of looking stupid they didn't know what to do. Our thing was, "well call my Sgt. if you don't believe we are supposed to take this van to d'Ars" etc etc. The MPs never knew you could walk all over underground at Air Division.

Manarin, Rino – (1955-1959)

Access to 61 AC&W Squadron was sort of a back road behind the Chateau de Mercy. When we drove to the 61 AC&W site we would pass a road to the left that took you to both the microwave site and a bit further to the Receiver site which was located at Fort Jury. Not too far from the Transmitter site was a mammoth hole in the ground. This was a crater like you never saw in your life. Local lore said that there had been an underground munitions depot at that location. An allied plane on the way back to England was flying low and watched a truck disappear into the hillside. The pilot quickly circled back and dropped a bomb at the location where the truck had disappeared. Evidently, the doors to the munitions depot was still open, the bomb slid in and the results were catastrophic. We also found the remnants of a couple of vehicles in this area.

Fowers, Frank – (1955-1958)

61 AC&W Squadron, L'Ouvrage de Jury (Receiver site), and L'Ouvrage d'Ars (Transmitter site and the microwave installation) were all accessed through a back gate at the Chateau de Mercy.

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Updated: December 24, 2001