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Click here or on the image for this location's profile page
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Location Category ID:
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8000
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Address: |
27 Ram Street, Borden, L0M 1C0 (Physical)
P.O. Box 1000, Station Main, Borden, L0M 1C0 (Postal)
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Telephone: |
705-423 3531
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Email: |
beaton.sl [at] forces.gc.ca (Replace [at] with @)
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Opening Times: |
0900-1200 and 1300-1500 weekdays, 1300 to 1600 weekends. Closed Mondays or the day following a long weekend, Christmas week and Easter. Free admission.
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Official Website: |
Base Borden Military Museum
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Other Links: |
The Star: Borden
Mrclark Gallery
GRB_Ott Gallery
YouTube
Wikipedia: Borden Museum
Canadian Encylopedia: Worthington
Wikipedia: Worthington
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Latitude, Longitude: |
44.28932918
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-79.89395141
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Location Accuracy: |
7
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Tanks Previously Here: |
1: Panther Tank - Canadian War Museum, LeBreton Flats, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (Until 2005)
2: M1917 Six-Ton Light Tank - Canadian War Museum, LeBreton Flats, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (Training 1940 – ca 1943)
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The Base Borden Military Museum is one of Canada’s largest military museums. The Museum holds a significant collection of WWI, WWII and post-war armoured vehicles, trucks, and aircraft. The Museum tells the story of Camp Borden and the various Schools, Corps and Branches that have their heritage vested at Base Borden. The museum complex consists of several buildings and a memorial park. The main Museum building, on the corner of Dieppe and Waterloo Roads, is a renovated WWII Armoured Corps’ Officers’ Mess. This building details the history of Borden. Major General Worthington Memorial Park, commonly referred to as “Tank Park”, contains some armoured vehicles and artillery pieces from Canada, United States and England, as well as other countries from around the world. These date from WWI to modern Soviet armoured vehicles. Major General Worthington Park, named for the Father of the Armoured Corps is consecrated ground containing two graves and four cenotaphs. It is a quiet area of reflection with benches provided for visitor comfort. (Source: Borden.forces.gc.ca).
Frederic Franklin “Worthy” Worthington was an army officer, engineer, and adventurer. He was born at Peterhead, Scotland, on 14 Sep 1889. Orphaned at 11, he became the ward of a half-brother (later murdered by Villista irregulars) in Mexico, later going to sea and, as a “sailor of fortune”, briefly commanding the tiny Nicaraguan navy in 1907. His earlier life in Mexico led him to sympathize with the ideals of Francisco Madero, for whose cause he fought during the revolution. At the start of WWI, he joined the Canadian Motor Machine Gun Brigade and was promoted to battery commander in France. He was awarded the Military Medal for actions near Vimy Ridge, on 6 January 1917, for holding his position during a German advance. He was later known to say that until Vimy Ridge he really never felt Canadian, but after Vimy Ridge never felt he was anything but a Canadian. He joined the peacetime Permanent Force of the Armed Forces, developing his doctrine of firepower plus mobility. In WWII, Maj-Gen Worthington founded the Canadian Armoured Corps. Later he was selected to organize, command and take overseas both the 1st Army Tank Brigade and the 4th Canadian Armoured Division. In 1944, he returned to command Camp Borden, training replacements for the Armoured Corps and the Infantry, as well as the Royal Army Service Corps and the Canadian Provost Corps. Resigning his commission in 1947, he was appointed the first civil defence co-ordinator, a position which he held until 1957, stepping down to enter the business community. After Worthington’s death in Ottawa on 8 December 1967 he was buried at Canadian Forces Base Borden according to his wishes. His wife was eventually buried beside him. (Source: Canadian Encylopedia, Wikipedia, Borden.forces.gc.ca).
The Borden military museum was established in the 1990s. In June 2007 a new main building for the museum complex was opened. It has a large hangar for the display of historic military vehicles; unfortunately the interior lighting is dark with a green hue, making photography difficult. The museum has a gift shop that is open during regular weekday hours only.
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