Korean War
A not so cold part of the “Cold War” was the Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) that is also referred to as the Korean Conflict. It pitted South Korea, backed by the United Nations, against North Korea and its allies. This war never officially ended, rather a ceasefire (Korean Armistice Agreement) was signed on July 27, 1953.
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As part of United Nations force Canada (including Newfoundland) had military personnel on active duty. Amongst this force was the Royal Newfoundland Engineers Infantry Division.
Cold War
In the mid 1950's, Elliston was a component in NORAD’s (North American Air Defense Command) continental defense system. Specifically, the Pinetree Line was composed of radar bases linked together to sound the alarm if invading Soviet forces were detected. These aircraft control and warning stations were strategically positioned, however, there were still areas where radar coverage was less than one-hundred percent. Such gap fillers were constructed to eliminate this problem. Although most people simply refer to this site on the top of Elliston Ridge as The Base that term is usually reserved for a much larger installation than a gap filler.
This site was only active for a relatively short time and on June 28th, 1961 the Elliston Ridge installation ceased operations.
Unit:
Royal Newfoundland Engineers Infantry Division
1st Regiment Royal Canadian Horse Artillery