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Joining the Queen's Own Camerons

Heroes Remember

Joining the Queen's Own Camerons

Transcript
I tried to join in 1942 in the fall after harvest, but I was okay for the Air Force until they found out I had a hernia and the Air Force wouldn't repair that but the Army would do it for free and before hospitalization, of course, I couldn't afford to have it done so the Army did it and then I was in the Army. In March of ‘43 I was enlisted actually, enlisted in the Army. Basic training in Regina and Prince Albert, advanced infantry training in Shilo and I went to NCO school in Shilo and then I instructed advanced infantry training in Shilo again and got on a draft to go overseas in December of ‘43, that's right, and we spent five or six weeks at Debert camp in Nova Scotia which was a holding point and then went overseas in about February of ‘44 and then the Queens Own Camerons, they had been at Dieppe, you may have heard of Dieppe, and they has lost a lot of their fighting troops so they needed reinforcements. I was reinforcement to the Queens Own Camerons.
Description

Mr. MacLeod describes joining the army instead of the air force because they would correct a hernia from which he was suffering. He discusses his training pathway, and joining the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders upon his arrival in England.

Malcolm MacLeod

Malcolm MacLeod was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on March 21, 1923, and was one of three children. Despite his father being a rural school teacher, he had to complete grade twelve via correspondence. Mr. MacLeod enlisted in the army rather than the air force in the spring of 1943, and the army performed hernia surgery which he couldn't personally afford. He was quickly sent overseas to reinforce post D-Day efforts in France, joining the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders. Mr. MacLeod's war service ended near Antwerp, Belgium when his leg was badly fractured during a shelling.

Meta Data
Medium:
Video
Owner:
Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:
1:35
Person Interviewed:
Malcolm MacLeod
War, Conflict or Mission:
Second World War
Branch:
Army
Rank:
Private
Occupation:
Infantryman

Copyright / Permission to Reproduce

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