Lyle Bates remembers....

John Louis Palmer was a giant of a man, at 6 ft 5 or 6ft 6ins with a soft voice and very gentle ways.

He graduated from Saint John NB Radio College around 1954 (not sure of year). He was born and raised near Florenceville,N.B. in the heart of potato growing country. To my knowledge he was first posted to Camperdown Marine Radio VCS (later Halifax Marine Radio). This was a high volume Morse traffic station and especially in the mornings, was called upon to supply many DF (direction finding) bearings to the hundreds of fishing trawlers from the Grand Banks to Georges' Bank fishing areas. In fact there were so many requests for bearings that one RO was assigned to DF for part of the day. John used a hand key most of the time and was known for his steady, almost flawless smooth Morse.

From VCS he was assigned for a one year stay on Sable Island , one of three Operators at this multi-purpose station , call sign VGF, working all weather and official traffic pointto- point with VBQ (Halifax) and VCS with occasional ship and aircraft communications. I arrived on Sable in April 1957 to relieve Don Matthews and was then in the company of OIC Jerry Smith and John L Palmer for the next several months until John was relieved.

Shortly after my arrival, John who had married the previous year received word that his first child had been born, a son. There was lots of Morse traffic to keep us busy including a long number coded radiosonde message phoned to us daily by the nearby meteorology station. After his 1 year posting was finished on Sable Island he was re-assigned to VCS .

In 1956 the federal Department of Transport had taken over any Coast Stations still operated by the Canadian Marconi Company and was now responsible for supplying Radio Officers to federal government ocean-going ships. So John soon found himself on the Canadian Hydrographic vessel CSS Baffin/CGCL and over the next few years was her chief Radio Officer with occasional shore station postings.

In 1965, the Transport Radio Inspection branch found itself very short of Inspectors as most had been with the Department since prior to WWII or had been assigned during the war years. So in early 1965, a number of us, including John wrote the Inspector examinations. For many years and until recent times, only those who held a 2nd or 1st Class certificate of proficiency in radio were considered for entry into the ranks of Radio Inspector. Having successfully passed the entrance examinations, he was posted to the St. Johns, Newfoundland office as an Inspector, Radio Regulations .

In the early Seventies he was transferred to the Radio Inspection office at Halifax, N.S. as a supervisor. In 1974 he was promoted to the Regional Office of Radio Spectrum management in Moncton,N.B. and remained there for approximately one year until winning a Supervisor promotion back to the Halifax office . I had also been promoted from the Sydney, N.S. Inspection office and once again found myself working with my old friend John as Supervisor of licensing and examinations while John handled the Enforcement position, all under the direction of Inspector-in- Charge, John B O'Reilly.

After several years, IIC John O'Reilly became ill and died soon after. John L Palmer was promoted to IIC of the Halifax office around 1980, after a period of acting IIC status and retained this position until his retirement in 1989. He was renowned for his ability to interpret correctly the Canadian Ship Station Radio Regulations, The Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) requirements not to mention his grasp of the Radio Act of Canada, a most frustrating document of its time.

Sadly, after many years of retirement , enjoying life with his wife Florence, 5 children and many grandchildren, John passed away in November 2009, in Halifax, N.S.

Links  -  Liens

1987 - Federal Department of Communications - District managers gather

1987 - Ministère fédéral des Communications - Réunion des gestionnaires de district