Operation Noramex

Operation Noramex was a joint Canadian US Navy amphibious landing exercise meant to test "amphibious cold weather doctrine and equipment". However I found two sources of information giving two entirely different dates. The first source says it took place 21 October, 1949 at Cape Porcupine. A Batallion of Marines, around 2000 men were set ashore. This was a significant force considering the current population of Cartwright is only four or five hundred people. The objective was to capture an enemy meteorological station and airstrip. A special underwater demolition team swam ashore to make a beach recon before the main landing force came ashore. Another team went ashore in rubber boats from the troop submarine 'Sea Lion'. The second source says it took place 1 November 1954 at the mouth of Hamilton Inlet.

The physical evidence supports the information I have found. I found the remains of some kind of aerial and many bomb fragments at Cape Porcupine. In the summer of 2010, I think, a friend of mine and his girlfriend found dunnite at Cape Porcupine having at first mistaking it for some unusual rocks. Dunnite is an explosive used in naval artillery shells. There is also the remains of an amphibious landing craft near Woody Point, Porcupine Strand. About a mile inside Woody Point is where they carved out a landing strip. I guess this is the airstrip they supposedly captured. Again there is physical evidence there. There is also evidence of activity around Woody Point and at at least two other places on the North side of Cape Porcupine including wires strung in the trees for communications.

There is a lot of evidence of military activity at Upper and Lower Sandy Cove, which is at the mouth of Hamilton Inlet. There is a road carved out of the sand starting from the beach and going inland. This is easy to find. There are artifacts everywhere at this location including spent rifle casings, ammunition cannisters, cleats from the tracks of some kind of tank or amphibious vehicle, and remains of mess kits just to name a few.

One thing is certain, and that is Operation Noramex involved a lot of men and equipment including several major war ships. And the evidence supports it.