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Part Two
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I had been granted thirty days leave which was scheduled to end about December 20. After being locked up for nearly four years, I treated the idea of returning to barracks just before Christmas as a huge joke. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| So, after the New Year, and things had quieted down a bit, I thought that I should return and open the pages of the next chapter of my life. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lo and behold! What happened when I reached Lauzon, was that I was placed under open arrest and charged with being Absent Without Leave.! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Still thinking it was a joke, I laughingly presented myself to the orderly office to be paraded for my crime. I sat wait in in the outer office for my turn behind another miscreant. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| I listened to the whole procedure. He had been AWL for seventeen months. The trial went as follows: "How do you plead?" "Guilty". "Do you accept my punishment?" "Yes". "Seven days CB." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| I was dumfounded! Seven days CB! This man was a DESERTER! He should have been given a stiff prison sentence and a dishonourable discharge! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| My turn next. "How do you plead?"How do I plead! Iwas guilty as charged. So I answered, "Guilty". "Do you accept my punishment?" "Yes", believing that the little colonel would laugh along with me. "Seven days CB." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Again I was dumbfounded!. Dumbfounded? I was appalled! Four years in a Japanese prison camp and then be handed seven days CB for staying a few days over my leave! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| I made no comment, but left the little colonel's presence, went to the barracks gate, hailed a cab, and spent my seven days CB in Quebec City. That was the last I heard of it. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Back to School | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| After getting most of the euphoria of being a free man out of my system, I began to think about getting back to school.I for get the details of the process that finally took me to the refresher course for veterans at Sir George Williams College, but I do remember meeting several interviewers who tried to discourage me from attempting to re-enter school. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Some of the civil servants at the Department of Veterans Affairs were more than rude and abrupt. They gave me the feeling that I was asking for favours that I didn't deserve! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| What a difference today, when a veteran is treated like a gentleman, and given every consideration to his requests. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| So I braved the taunts and insults levelled at me by those minor officials. I bear them no malice, but judging by the behaviour they displayed in dealing with me, I doubt that any of them went very far in diplomatic circles. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Photo Gallery | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I was finally authorized to use my re-establishment credits to further my education, and was accepted at SirGeorge Williams. Having been away from school for eight years, I hadn't the slightest idea of what to expect. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Click Here To Go To Part One Home |
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| I had toyed with the idea of studying pharmacy, a seed that was probably planted when I was dispensing potssium permanganate and sulphur lotion in the hospital in prison camp. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I wisely chose the twelve-month refresher course, being pretty certain that it would take all of a year to bring me up to par and entrance to McGill. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Our classrooms were on Claremont Avenue in Westmount, and our laboratories were in the YMCA Building on Drummond Street in downtown Montreal. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Click Here To Go To Part Two Home |
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| The very first lesson was in high school physics, and the whole experiment was based on converting a fraction to a decimal. I hadn't a clue what to do! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I often wonder now what force kept my nose to the grindstone all those twelve months, starting in April, 1946 and ending the following spring. I am grateful now that I persisted, and didn't succumb to the temptation to quit and use my credits in the same way that many other veterans did. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I'll not bore the reader with the details of my erratic journey from Sir George to McGill, to the University of New Brunswick, ending finally in a Bachelor's degree and a Class I Teaching degree. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Edwina | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The path I took has given me much satisfaction.I have been supported at every step by my wife, Edwina, who had faith in me and allowed me to choose what I thought was the right way to go. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Without her sympathetic support, and her willingness to share the hardships of living in need while raising a family, I could never have made it. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In July, 2003, we will be 56 years married. She still upholds me in all important decisions, and comforts and encourages me when I feel low.Without her I could never have made it. God bless her. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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