The Enlistment Process

When I joined the army, my uncle who was my guardian at the time, phoned the Commanding Officer of the battery I joined, and said, “This boy is too young. He shouldn’t be in the army.” So I was sent back to high school. And so you can imagine what happened to me in high school. My friends said, “Some soldier, they kicked you out after a week!” And so, anyway, I was determined I was not going to be thwarted by this, and so with two dollars in my pocket from the little town of Listowel one early morning I hitchhiked to London, Ontario where I went to the recruiting office in the old armoury in the middle of London. I told them I was 18 and passed the medical and entered the 1st Division. After a day or so, I phoned my guardian, my wonderful uncle and said, “Look, I’m determined to serve in the Army. You understand, you were a soldier in World War I. If you get me removed again by telling my true age, then I’ll run away to Vancouver or somewhere and you’ll never know where I am. And please don’t interrupt this venture into the Army.” And being a soldier in World War I, he was sympathetic and so he decided to let me have my way.