3069 W.A. McColl's Diary
3069 W.A. McColl's – II Year – 1951: "Fritz was crazy coming here when he could have gone to Queen's and eaten at home each day."
Church parade today was quite good. The whole jist of it was that prayers are not worth a damn unless you work to bring about the desired result—a very commendable philosophy. Fritz invited me in for dinner and once again Mrs. McDougall surpassed herself and we had a wonderful chicken dinner. Fritz was crazy coming here when he could have gone to Queen's and eaten at home each day. We went for a short walk after dinner and Mrs. McDougall was telling me that Sir John A. Macdonald's statue in the park had been badly cleaned about five years ago and that was why "Sir John" was such a "horrid orange" colour.
It has turned bitterly cold and the lake has suddenly frozen over. We had a march past and salute for some Air Commodore and air force brass who were around today. Fritz wanted me to get up at 0130 hours to help flood the hockey rink—didn't get very far I'm afraid.
This morning it turned suddenly warmer and our ice is beginning to crack in the bay. After classes we had another parade until dark. …there has been quite a bit of practicing for this parade. The square was carefully scraped last week and sanded in spots…now it is snowing heavily and there should be quite a bit of it tomorrow. Had an interesting lecture today on the Naval Air Branch of the RCN, by a young Lt. Langdon.
Today has been one of the busiest ones of the year. We woke up today and the square had about 6" of wet slushy snow on it—ploughs were taking it off before breakfast and continued all morning. Gen. Mark Clark inspected us after lunch and then we marched around the square for the full ceremonial parade. The square was very wet and our squadron stood in one big puddle for most of the inspection. However the parade was a fairly good one. The general gave us a lecture afterwards on the U.S. Army today and it was interesting and although humourous in spots was deadly serious. After a mess dinner Prof. Danserean gave us a lecture on "Heredity and Environment" which wasn't too bad but lasted too long. Marker out today again and another column to write for the next one.
Right after classes today we found that our flight was to play "K" flight at floor hockey in about fifteen minutes. Some of our fellows were on light duty and some on fire piquet but we managed to dress a team and our reinforcements came in during the game. However we came through in grand style and won 5-3. Glen Jones surprised us all and got a goal.
Last night I was very sleepy and went to bed quite early and therefore woke up earlier (0400). Anyway I got up, shaved, and did some work. Hamlin and Sullivan were buzzing around outside as the hockey team was leaving for Montreal. This afternoon we saw a picture of part of last year's graduation and the trooping of the colours by the guards in England. Did some more pistol shooting and find that I'm improving now but only at a very slow rate—my 88 last week was just a flunky one.
Our squadron paraded for drill this morning at 0800 hours. It was bitterly cold and we nearly froze solid out on the square. But at the same time Mr. Coggins was out there for three hours in that forage cap of his and he strutted around as if it were a beautiful summer's day. Goldie was put in the C team for the DCRA competition and shot a 98 much to Sgt MacConnel's disgust, and Don MacKinnon shot a 97 in the B team. Had an injection in the arm today and it throbbed all day and night. The opening ceremony for the pool was short and the swimming display was a good one. We didn't do too badly in the meet as had been expected. Dave Dillon got word tonight that his father died and the padre was over here pretty fast. Some of the service corps in the army can be accused of slackness and inefficiency but as yet I haven't seen evidence of it in the Chaplain's Corps.
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