Canadian Forces Base Borden RCAF Station Borden, is a Canadian Forces base located in Ontario. The historic birthplace of the Royal Canadian Air Force, CFB Borden is home to the largest training wing in the Canadian Armed Forces; the base is run by Canadian Forces Support Training Group and reports to the Canadian Defence Academy in Kingston. At the height of the First World War, the Borden Military Camp opened at a location on a glacial moraine west of Barrie in 1916 to train units for the Canadian Expeditionary Force, it was named for former Minister of Militia. In May 1916, the Barrie and Collingwood companies of the 157th Battalion, CEF, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel D. H. MacLaren, began construction of the camp. Camp Borden was selected in 1917 for a military aerodrome, becoming the first flying station of the Royal Flying Corps Canada. During the inter-war period, the aerodrome was used as the training location for the nascent Royal Canadian Air Force and was renamed RCAF Station Borden.

Camp Borden's training grounds were expanded in 1938 to house the Canadian Tank School. The Siskins were a RCAF aerobatic flying team, established in 1929 at Camp Borden. During the Second World War, both Camp Borden and RCAF Station Borden became the most important training facility in Canada, housing both army training and flight training, the latter under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan; the BCATP's No. 1 Service Flying Training School was located here until 1946. Relief landing fields were located at Edenvale. A third landing field, known locally as Leach's Field, was operated by Camp Borden from the 1920s to the 1950s; the L-shaped airstrip was rudimentary. It was used for touch-and-go flying. During the Cold War, Borden's importance as an RCAF facility in Ontario declined in favour of CFB Trenton, CFB Uplands and CFB North Bay. However, its use as an army facility stayed consistent until 1970 when a major reorganization of the combat arms' schools resulted in the transfer of the Infantry School and Armoured School to CFB Gagetown in New Brunswick.

On the other hand, numerous "purple" schools were established or expanded from existing service training establishments, including the Canadian Forces School of Administration and Logistics, the School of Aerospace Ordnance Engineering and the Canadian Forces Health Service Training Centre. The February 1, 1968 unification of the RCAF with the Royal Canadian Navy and the Canadian Army resulted in the creation of the Canadian Forces; the military facilities consisting of Camp Borden and RCAF Station Borden were grouped under a new name, Canadian Forces Base Borden. The aerodrome was closed in 1970 and the base saw use as a regular and reserve training facility for Canadian Forces Land Force Command, as well as hosting various land-based training courses for Canadian Forces Air Command. In a 1990s reorganization of the Canadian Forces following the end of the Cold War, CFB Borden's air force training facilities were grouped under the name 16 Wing Borden; the eight surviving Royal Flying Corps hangars at the base have been designated a National Historic Site of Canada.

The Ontario Heritage Foundation, Ministry of Culture and Recreation erected a plaque in 1976. Camp Borden was established during the First World War as a major training centre of Canadian Expeditionary Force battalions; the Camp was opened by Sir Sam Hughes, Minister of Militia and Defence, on July 11, 1916, after two months of intensive building. This military reserve, comprising over twenty square miles, was soon occupied by some 32,000 troops. Training facilities were expanded in 1917 with the institution of an air training programme under the Royal Flying Corps and the construction of the first Canadian military aerodrome, regarded as the finest military aviation camp in North America. Following the armistice Camp Borden continued as an important army and air force centre and became one of the largest armed forces bases in Canada. Although an air force training base, CFB Borden is now a training base for several elements of the Canadian Forces: 2 Canadian Air Division's primary lodger unit, 16 Wing referred to as 16 Wing Borden, consists of 16 Wing Headquarters and three schools: the Canadian Forces School of Aerospace Technology and Engineering, the Royal Canadian Air Force Academy, the Canadian Forces School of Aerospace Control, located in Cornwall, Ontario.

The Canadian Army's Regular Force and Primary Reserve army units use a number of training schools and large portions of the base's 22,300 acres training area for manoeuvres. In addition to these specific environmental element commands, CFB Borden houses a variety of other purple trades training facilities and headquarters within the Canadian Forces, including a fire-fighting school, Military Police school, a chaplaincy school, the Canadian Forces Recruiting Group, medical and language schools, supports local cadet and reserve units; the Toronto Police Service's Emergency Task Force trains there occasionally. CFB Borden hosts the Blackdown Cadet Training Centre, a facility established for training army cadets; this facility has hosted air cadets and sea cadets since 2003, when the Borden Air Cadet Summer Training Centre was closed. CFB Borden's residential area houses one regulation-sized golf course. Circled Pine Golf Course opened in

George Plafker is an American geologist and seismologist who has made significant contributions to both fields, with research focused on subduction and the geology of Alaska. Following prolonged study of the region of the 1964 Alaska earthquake, Plafker concluded that the largest earthquakes are the result of fault slip at convergent boundaries; this was at a time when the theory of plate tectonics was still not accepted by the scientific community. Additional studies were done in Chile in the late 1960s regarding the series of earthquakes there. For his groundbreaking research, Plafker was honored with the Penrose Medal by the Geological Society of America and the Harry Fielding Reid Medal from the Seismological Society of America, both in 2017. Biographical Sketch for: George Plafker – IRIS Consortium 50 Years Ago, Alaskan Earthquake Was Key Event for Earth Science – KQED

USS Branch was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy that entered service in 1920. After a short active life, Branch was placed in reserve in 1922; the ship was activated again for World War II before being transferred to the Royal Navy in 1940. Renamed HMS Beverley, the destroyer served in the Battle of the Atlantic as a convoy escort and was torpedoed and sunk on 11 April 1943; the second Navy ship was named for Secretary of the Navy John Branch, Branch was launched on 19 April 1919 by Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company. The destroyer was commissioned on Commander F. H. Roberts in command. Branch was fitted out at Norfolk Navy Yard and in October cruised to Annapolis, for a test of her engineering performance. Before the end of 1920 she joined Atlantic Fleet; the next year she maneuvered with the Squadron and engaged in tactical exercises on the Atlantic coast, sometimes operating in reduced commission with half her usual complement of crew. After 6 January 1922 she operated in the vicinity of Charleston, South Carolina, Hampton Roads.

Arriving at Philadelphia Navy Yard in June, she was placed out of commission 11 August 1922. Branch remained inactive at Philadelphia until recommissioned 4 December 1939 for service with the Scouting Force; as flagship of Destroyer Division 68 she participated in the Neutrality Patrol. In the summer of 1940 she operated along trained reserves. Early in October 1940 she departed Newport, Rhode Island for Halifax, Nova Scotia, where on 8 October 1940 Branch was decommissioned and transferred in the Destroyers for Bases Agreement to the British Navy and renamed HMS Beverley. Beverley arrived at Belfast 24 October and was modified for trade convoy escort service by removal of three of the original 4"/50 caliber guns and three of the triple torpedo tube mounts to reduce topside weight for additional depth charge stowage and installation of hedgehog. In April 1942 she was an escort for Convoy PQ 14 en route to North Russia. En route the convoy was attacked by a superior force of enemy destroyers, which had approached unobserved during a snow storm and fired several torpedoes at a range of 9,000 yards.

One merchant ship was sunk. The enemy returned four times and took part in short gunnery duels, but did not close the range below 8,000 yards. On 4 February 1943, while escorting Atlantic Convoy SC 118 with Escort Group B-2, Beverley sighted the German submarine U-187 southeast of Cape Farewell, Greenland, she took part in attacks on other U-boats the next day. Beverley was assigned to Escort Group B-4 of the Mid-Ocean Escort Force for convoys ON 140, ON 161, ON 169, HX 229 and ON 176. On 9 April while escorting Convoy ON 176, she collided with the steamship Cairnvolona in bad weather and had her anti-submarine and degaussing gear put out of action. Two days she was torpedoed by U-188 commanded by Kapitänleutnant Siegfried Lüdden at 52°19′N 40°28′W, sank with the loss of 139 members of her crew, including her commanding officer. Lenton, H. T. & Colledge J. J.. British and Dominion Warships of World War II. Doubleday and Company. Rohwer, J. & Hummelchen, G.. Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945. Naval Institute Press.

ISBN 1-55750-105-X. This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships; the entry can be found here. "HMS Beverley: A "Town" Afloat 1940–43 & The Town Ashore by Geoffrey Blewitt. Alan Twiddle Publishing 1998 ISBN 1-902508-01-7. Navsource.org: USS Branch hazegray.org: USS Branch