Despite being the largest mutiny in Canadian history, the 1944 mutiny of Terrace is given little thought in school textbooks and the general imagination. For us this is no surprise since it is the history of our class. The base around the village of Terrace in British Columbia was quickly constructed for Pacific home defence and to serve as a troop transport hub. Its squalor and mundane condition is reflected in shortages of gasoline and coal in the bitter cold of northern British Columbia to the point that soldiers elsewhere were threatened to be sent to Terrace for misbehaviour. The Francophone battalion stationed at Terrace was often cited as having particularly “poor morale,” no doubt suffering under the yoke of barking Anglophone officers.

Finally, in 1944, the powder keg of Terrace exploded after threats of being sent to the front were made. The three battalions stationed there organized around their discontent. Rather than a riotous group of drunken sailors, the mutineers of Terrace marched through the town with rifles loaded and immediately occupied key barracks and positions. Quickly, the soldiers began reorganizing the camp collectively, allotting canteen and guard duties. A few officers who attempted to maintain control guarded the ammunition depot. Perplexed by their dutiful efforts being ignored by the mutineers, they opened the depots to find that they had already been cleared.

The army command stationed in Prince Rupert, BC were alarmed by the news of the mutiny. Several attempts were made to rescue the officers in the camp and transport them to Prince Rupert but none of them arrived. One group of officers was able to hop on a train to army command after hiding in the brush and being searched for by a truck-load of the mutineers. Meanwhile, in the camp, the number of soldiers was steadily depleting as soldiers jumped on freights and simply deserted.

The mutiny was ended by the threats of one officer sent to Terrace with a clear message. After being met with machine gun muzzles and being told he could move no further, he told the soldiers the army had planes at the ready and were prepared to bomb the town and that any attempt to hold the base or even leave without authority was futile. Faced with the threat and their decreasing number, most of the soldiers agreed to hand in their rifles and board the troop trains – only the Francophone battalion left Terrace fully equipped.

The mutiny of Terrace is just one of many in our class’s history which dismisses the myth that the Second Imperialist War was a period of social peace on the home front. With today’s imperialist tensions, it serves as a reference against the notion of national unity for the great, justified and heroic slaughter of our class. When the veneer of civilization was coming apart, two class perspectives opposed each other. While not a single officer was harmed at Terrace and not a single building damaged, the soldiers were threatened with the bombardment of an entire town. Lest we forget the class heroes of Terrace.