Ex-cadet returns to camp to get museum into shape

Vernon cadet camp museum reopens on June 21 with a grand opening celebration on July 1

A long-time army cadet has returned to the Vernon Cadet camp to get its museum ready for another season of public openings.

Andrew Cusveller aged out of the cadet program last year when he turned 19. He had enjoyed a seven-year career with

1705 Royal Canadian Army Cadet Corps (BC Dragoons), rising to the rank of Cadet Chief Warrant Officer.

In 2019, he was hired for a summer at the Cadet Museum. The following two years, while still a cadet, Cusveller worked in the museum archives, sorting and documenting the thousands of photos, letters, documents and items in the museum’s possession.

After finishing his first year at Okanagan College, where he is focusing on sciences with the plan to become an astrophysicist, he has returned to the museum, where this year is his working on the citation of displays.

“It’s a really interesting job,” Cusveller said. He has become interested in the technology changes between the two world wars, with an added interest in the Battle School that operated at the Coldstream Ranch during the Second World War.

He will spend the summer documenting and cataloguing items the museum has received. Each item will be identified, certified and numbered.

In the process, he has discovered some

unusual items. For example, one sheet of paper unofficially lists the qualifications of different ranks, describing a Company Sergeant Major as someone who, “needs to be stronger than a M1 Abrams tank.”

He was confused about a rubber chicken that was stored in one of the many boxes that he’s moved into a SeaCan for storage.

“A rubber chicken?”

It was explained to him that the chicken was a mascot for one of the platoons

in the 1980s.

The Cadet Museum will open on June 21 with a grand opening set for July 1.

“The public are invited to attend the grand opening,” said museum manager Maria Brunskill. “We’ll have the barbecue fired up for hotdogs at Patricia Way from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. There will be cake.”

The museum will be open during the summer from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, with entry through the tunnel under Highway 97.

WAYNE EMDE/Special to The Daily Courier Former Army Cadet Andrew Cusveller arranges one of the displays that were part of the pop-up Cadet Museum in Downtown Vernon last summer as he and the volunteers prepare to re-open the museum on the grounds of the Vernon Military Camp this summer.