Construction
Several steps had been taken by the British and Newfoundland governments pre-dating the official signing of the agreement, which identified the preferred site for a military installation along the north side of Quidi Vidi Lake, in the northeast part of St. John's.
Field work began on the site on October 15, 1940.
On January 15, 1941 the Newfoundland Base Command was activated on board the United States Army troop transport ship USS Edmund B. Alexander, the largest ship ever to dock in St. John's Harbour. On March 27, 1941 the United States officially signed the Lend-Lease agreement which gave possession of the site for the installation; construction work began in earnest soon afterward.
The military base in St. John's was to be operated by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), predecessor of the United States Air Force (USAF), as US military interest in Newfoundland was deemed to be primarily an air-defence mission. A major United States Navy base and air station were simultaneously under construction at Naval Station Argentia, along with a USAAF base at Stephenville.
The harbor facilities, population base, and seat of government at St. John's precluded some form of headquarters facility for the base under construction adjacent to Quidi Vidi Lake; therefore, it was decided that Newfoundland Base Command would be established in the capital to coordinate all US military operations in Newfoundland, as well as in the Danish territory of Greenland.
The new installation was to be named Fort Pepperrell, following the tradition of naming United States Army facilities, even though it was primarily to see use by the USAAF.
During April and May 1941, the Newfoundland base contractor's personnel began arriving on the island, and construction was taken over by their organization. On April 15 a lease was signed with Carpasian Park Limited, for 15 acres (61,000 m2) of land upon which to build Camp Alexander, a temporary tent camp named in honor of the ship USS Edmund B. Alexander, to be located on Carpasian Road.
On May 20, the troops quartered aboard the USS Edmund B. Alexander began moving into their new temporary camp. The reasons behind the apparently slow pace of construction for the base was likely related to the fact that the United States did not enter the war until late 1941. Canada and Newfoundland, by contrast, were at war, along with most of the rest of the British Commonwealth. A separate series of Canada-Newfoundland defense agreements saw Canada's military activity in the colony restricted to war-time conditions, and by 1940-1941, both Canada and Newfoundland were increasingly desperate to defend the territory. War-time shortages meant that the Canadian military did not build permanent military bases but did create temporary facilities to house air force and naval units at Botwood, Gander, Bell Island and St. John's. The Canadian military buildings were often erected quickly and cheaply with materials available locally. By contrast, the more deliberate pace set by the still-neutral US military saw their construction in Newfoundland planned for a much more substantial investment, intended to last the length of the 99 year lease.
Read more about this topic: Pepperrell Air Force Base
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