Comradery

Comradery. Canada, of course, in the Second World War did not segregate. I was the only black guy in my outfit. And in that camp, it was a large camp with all kinds of people coming and going and training and so on like that. There’d be maybe 5000 people at any given time in that camp. I only saw one other black guy in all the time that I was there. I was well treated, I was highly respected. I’m sure that if it hadn’t been for policy because that’s what it really was, if it hadn’t been for policy I would have been, I would have advanced much more, well I didn’t advance at all. I would have advanced. I went in as a Private and came out as a Private.

Mr. Jacobs shares his positive attitude towards treatment amongst his fellow soldiers.

Kenneth Jacobs

Mr. Kenneth Jacobs was born in 1923 in Windsor, Ontario. He attended public high school until Grade 13 and was involved in sports throughout his school years. He attended the University of Toronto with the aspiration to study medicine, however, after one year changed his career path. In 1943 Mr. Jacobs joined the army. He was posted to Eastern Passage, Nova Scotia with the Royal Canadian Artillery, transferred to the Medical Corp and accepted advanced training in Camp Borden. He then transferred to the Vancouver General Military Hospital working in admissions as a typist, then onto the orderly room as an operating room assistant. In 1945 he discharged from the army, obtained his Bachelor of Arts at Assumption College, attended University of Toronto and earned a Masters Degree in Social Work. Mr. Jacobs worked at the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto, being the first black social worker at this agency. Mr. Jacobs joined the Air Force and worked in British Columbia in his social work field. In 1980, when his father turned ill, Mr. Jacobs returned to Ottawa to look after him, was employed with National Defence and established a social work centre. In 1988 Mr. Jacobs retired after 24 years of service and settled in Ottawa. Mr. Jacobs retired from the forces with the rank of Wing Commander.