CFB Cornwallis - CFB Cornwallis

CFB Cornwallis

The February 1, 1968 unification of the RCN with the Royal Canadian Air Force and Canadian Army to form the Canadian Forces saw HMCS Cornwallis change its name to Canadian Forces Base Cornwallis, or CFB Cornwallis.

At the time of unification, many duplicate bases and facilities were being closed; however, it was determined that CFB Cornwallis would become home to the English-speaking division of the Canadian Forces Recruit School (CFRS) and would train recruits at the enlisted level destined for service with one of the three operational environments of the entire Canadian Forces (land, sea, or air). The French-speaking division of CFRS was located at CFB St-Jean.

CFB Cornwallis continued in this role through to its closure in 1994, when the base was identified as surplus to the requirements of the shrinking post-Cold War Canadian Forces. The last recruit course 9426 graduated on August 18 that year, and the base officially decommissioned in May 1995.

The closure of the base was not without controversy, as a series of memorial stained glass windows commemorating those lost in the Battle of the Atlantic were removed by the Canadian Forces from the base chapel and installed in a military chapel in CFB Halifax's Shannon Park housing development in Dartmouth.