_________image_________ This switchboard (in this photo by Signals operator during an exercise) would have answered the calls summoning military police assistance on those nights mentioned in the previous pages. With the expanded camp interior, and each building requiring telephone service, switchboards were kept busy during the day. Incoming calls are indicated by the leaf above that circuit dropping as the caller cranks his telephone. When the operator plugs into that circuit, the leaf resumes its upright position. Connection of the call is completed with the plug from the same set. The keys on the switchboard table are used to generate the ring to an outgoing call, make verbal contact with party on the line, and to monitor calls silently. If the parties “ring off” when the call is complete, the leaf will flutter or drop to alert the operator and disconnetion is immediate. Otherwise, the call must be monitored occasionally to confirm callers on the line. Not All Bad Despite the inevitable confrontation between transient troops and pub punchers, Wainwright and its resident military population meshed and melded to become a stable community. Wainwright citizens realized the boys in training needed to get away from it all and let off a little steam occasionally. The permanent personnel tended to be less rambunctious. During these years, the camp became a regular feature of the annual Wainwright parade, participated in sports competitions as opponents and teammates, became involved in community affairs and organizations and by their presence, generated a distinctive growth in commercial and residential Wainwright. They shared the town’s disappointment and elation as the features and residents of the community were taken away or changed. Even after the PMQ’s were available in 1955, a number of military families preferred to live in town, many taking advantage of the newly constructed Holdings toward the end of the decade (visible as a scallop design in the overhead map, pg. 52, and still reasonably priced rental units today). Lt. Studd, editor of the Warrior summarized the feelings of many, as he departed to Borden: “We came to Wainwright as transients; we leave as residents.” Transition Complete By the time the Korean conflict had stabilized in 1953, thousands of troops had exercised on the ranges where only thirteen years prior, thosands of buffalo had grazed. The original grandiose plans for the “metropolis” of Camp Wainwright fell through and were awarded instead to Gagetown. The camp was like the Canadian Army’s Special Force, created and trained for the Korean War. Both the force and the camp were thought to be temporary. And like the Special Force, Camp Wainwright did not dismantle after the war, but proved to be indispensable. The visibly changed camp now supplied its personnel and visiting troops with modern conveniences and recreation facilities. After a severe water shortage due to increasingly hard to maintain water wells in 1951 and 1952, the completion of a water resevoir and treatment plant at Betty Lake was a sensible and welcome addition to the camp. The existing training facility near the town of Wainwright natuarally accessed civilian personnel from its surrounding communities. It became a large and valuable employer of local residents. In turn, families of military personnel brought and employed their skills and talents within the district.