This is the second in a four-part series by Lieutenant-Colonel Don Kennedy, CD (Ret'd) in which he related his personal and professional connections with the former home of the Engineers. 

The heart and soul of the Chilliwack Home Station was always the terrain south of Keith Wilson Rd - that is, the military operational and training areas. There is a cast concrete 10-man Arctic tent near the All Sappers’ Cenotaph that pays tribute to all those robust Sappers that first, may I say, “colonized” the Lumsden hog and orchard farm back in 1942. In my opinion, and not to take anything away from the over-riding significance of the Cenotaph, all RCE Home Station roots are embodied in that humble concrete canvas monument. First, the tents, then A6 Canadian Engineer Training Centre (CETC) writ large, then the Camp, followed in the late-60s by the “Base”… and the rest, as they say, is history. So, in this chronicle, I will relate my impressions of my most recent encounter with Canada’s Education Park (CEP) - formerly known as our old Home Station.

Chronicles from Vedder – Part 1 First Impressions  
Chronicles from Vedder – Part 2 Domestic Site  
Chronicles from Vedder – Part 3 Operational Site
Chronicles from Vedder – Part 4 "Oot & Aboot"
Chronicles from Vedder – Part 5 Hinterland Unlocked
Chronicles from Vedder – Part 6 Wrap-up