WAR:

When war broke out I was working for Ad. We went down to North Bay to join the Navy, but they wouldn't let us in because we were too old. I was 30 years old. They were looking for young people. So we came back and worked again for another year. Then we went to join the Airforce the next year. But we were still too old. So, we came back and worked again. Then we joined the army after that. We went three times - Navy, Airforce and the Army. By then it was 1941. I went with Fred Bernier and Nick Card to Sudbury. Fred Bernier was the liquor store manager. He went to the liquor store in Sudbury and got a bunch of liquor and he and I got half shot! Nick wouldn't drink because he figured he had to go for the medical the next day. Shit, he went for the medical the next day and he failed it! "See, I said, "If you had drunk with us you would have passed it!" He didn't make it!

We went down to Toronto after that. I met Gordie Wilmer and his parents there, His mother said to me, "You look after my boy in the army now". Gordie was just young. (Dad and Gord Wilmer remained friends for years. A few times the Wilmers visited us in Chapleau, when we were teenagers. They had three sons. He died in the 1980's)