Project Franklin was a DND Centennial project undertaken in August of 1967 to search King William Island and environs for Sir John Franklin's grave and any records in cairns or caches. Franklin’s Royal Navy expedition left England in 1845, and his two ships HMS Terror and HMS Erebus were abandoned near King William Island in 1848. 1PPCLI, Griesbach Barracks Edmonton was tasked with conducting the ground search with a platoon-sized unit commanded by Captain RD Gillan with Sergeant LA Atkinson, the senior NCO. A total of 25 personnel were drawn from the battalion, including a cook and a medical assistant. It was determined that Gladman Point would be suitable as a base camp on the island as it has a gravel runway that could accommodate C130 Hercules aircraft and was also the site of DEW radar site Cam 2. Additionally, there were several useable Jamesway huts that could be used by the search teams when in base camp. Air support was necessary for moving the search teams from location to location. This was provided by two Voyageur helicopters from 1 Transport Helicopter platoon, RCASC, Edmonton. 1 Field Squadron, RCE provided a small dive team of one officer and four sappers to conduct underwater search operations. Additionally, 408 Squadron, Rivers, Man, and DPIC provided photo interpretation support.
The ground search was conducted with five teams, deployed by helicopter with their tents, rations, etc. Each search team carried one FN rifle and ammunition for defense against polar bears, which were numerous in King William Is area. Due to the terrain - limestone severely weathered into extensive “felsenmeer” of shattered plates - movement of the tent groups was not possible except by helicopter. Flight operations were hampered by weather, which was generally poor with numerous days of low visibility, low ceiling and drizzle, and near-freezing temperatures. Although the search of the Western shore of the Island and the Boothia Peninsula to the East did not reveal Franklin’s grave, it turned up some artifacts likely from his expedition: the remains of a seaman’s boot and wooden debris from sailing vessels. These were sent to the Arctic Institute at the University of Alberta. This was one of the few times the Canadian Army had conducted operations in the arctic summer. Therefore, it was of excellent training value as well as revealing weaknesses in both equipment and rations.