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A neighborhood near the Vancouver, BC airport is a reminder that Canada, and Seattle鈥檚 Boeing Company, entered World War II much earlier than the United States.

Wartime history found in secret compartment on Beacon Hill

Sometimes, Americans forget that World War II didn鈥檛 begin on December 7, 1941.

In Poland, the war began on Friday, September 1, 1939 when the Nazis invaded by land and attacked by air. In England, it began two days later, on Sunday, September 3, 1939, when Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announced that Hitler had not responded to his demand to cease hostilities, and Great Britain was at war.

In London, the air-raid siren started wailing almost right away. It was a false alarm, but Nazi bombing of London would begin in earnest with the Blitz in 1940.

Much closer to home and just two hours north of Seattle, World War II began on Sunday, September 10, 1939, when King George VI approved Canada鈥檚 declaration of war against Germany.

CBC Vancouver marked the 80th anniversary earlier this week 聽of landmarks that still remain from World War II in and around Vancouver.

In 1939, Seattle鈥檚 Boeing Company built what became a major factory聽at . The airport is in the middle of the Fraser River Delta on a big piece of land called Sea Island, which is officially located in the city of Richmond, BC.

, as the subsidiary was known, built an amphibious aircraft there which was a 鈥淧atrol Boat鈥� (or 鈥淧BY鈥�) designed by Consolidated. Because of wartime demand, the Consolidated design was manufactured by other companies, including Boeing.

Mike Lombardi, corporate archivist and historian for Boeing, says that these Canadian-built Boeing Catalinas were called 鈥淐ansos.鈥澛� Later in the war, Lombardi says, the main work at the Sea Island plant was building center fuselage sections .

鈥淭hose sections were [sent] across the border and down to Renton,鈥� said Lombardi. One of the old Boeing Canada hangars is still standing on Sea Island, nowadays being used by Harbour Air.

The workers at the Sea Island Boeing factory, which employed 7,000 people at its peak, needed places to live. Just like in Western Washington, wartime housing was scarce, as people moved into the area for war-related jobs.

Seattle鈥檚 forgotten connection to radio鈥檚 Jimmie Allen Flying Club

So, Boeing built a neighborhood of 300 cottages for workers and their families. The neighborhood , named after Boeing Canada鈥檚 wartime president Stanley Burke, and it鈥檚 still there, and still looks very much the way it did 75 years ago.

Also still in Burkeville are streets named for American and British warplanes and airplane manufacturers: Catalina Crescent; Lancaster Crescent; Douglas Crescent; Wellington Crescent; Handley Avenue; Hudson Avenue; Stirling Avenue; and Anson Avenue.

And one more, of course: Boeing Avenue.

Elsewhere in the Vancouver area, there鈥檚 one more intriguing World War II large-scale artifact that鈥檚 hiding in almost plain sight.

The 聽at the University of British Columbia is famous for its collection of indigenous totems and contemporary indigenous works of art.

While totems are visible from the parking lot, it鈥檚 not obvious to visitors that the museum of a World War II era defense installation called . And, in fact, one of the iconic Bill Reid sculptures 鈥� 鈥淭he Raven and the First Men鈥� 鈥� is sitting right on top of a round concrete plinth where a huge artillery piece was once mounted.

The underground magazine and ammunition hoist , out of sight just below the Bill Reid sculpture. Apparently, when the museum was designed and built in the 1970s, it was easier and cheaper to leave the massive concrete foundation in place.

Wartime British Columbia had a direct connection to Western Washington and to 成人X站 Radio during World War II, as 成人X站鈥檚 newly-boosted signal聽easily reached Victoria on Vancouver Island. Before the US entered the war, 成人X站 listeners even raised money to buy toys and candy that were carried by Victoria resident Ken Stofer, a loyal 成人X站 listener and newly minted soldier, to orphans in Blitz-ravaged London.

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