大象传媒

On September 3rd of 1939, when Germany had not replied to Britain鈥檚 note to withdraw troops from Poland by 11:00am, Great Britain reluctantly declared that a state of war existed between them. Shortly afterwards, Canada followed Britain鈥檚 example and declared war on Germany as well. Millions of words have been written about the traumatic effect of that declaration on Canadians of all ages, from grandparents to those of middle age, to those of us in our late teens and early twenties, and to the young as well. Before it was over nearly six years later, over a million Canadians would have served in the various branches of the military, and nearly fifty thousand would have paid the supreme sacrifice.
Prior to the outbreak of war, I had enrolled in Normal School in Edmonton for the 1939-40 term; I decided to proceed with teacher training and graduated in the Spring of 1940. I taught a total of thirty nine students in grades one to nine in the Potter Creek School west of Rimbey during the 1940-41 term. Teaching was interesting and challenging, but seeing all the young fellows from Ponoka and Rimbey joining the various services, made me feel that I was not doing my part. Therefore, I was quite happy when I was called up for military service, and asked to report for a medical examination. Disappointment was, however, my lot as the medical officers for the Army turned me down as 4F, or medically unfit for military service. This was because of a hernia, that I was unaware I had. Since none of the services were interested in allowing me to enlist and then operating on the hernia, I decided that I would have the operation performed and pay for it myself.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.