Preparing for War

Heroes Remember

Preparing for War

Transcript

Interviewer: Was your father, did he ever express concern to you that he feared that another war might be coming and that you might be involved? Well, even more than that, when I went to McGill, which was in 1937, the peacenicks were controlling everything to the extent that that year the debating society in Oxford debated resolve we would not defend our country and the affirmative won. It was, and I had joined the McGill Daily as a reporter and everything was peace, peace, peace, and against war. And, in the midst of all that, my father said to me, “You've got to join the McGill COTC.” And I said, “Dad, everybody will laugh at me. It's not a very smart thing to do.” And he said, “I don't care about whether they'll laugh. There's a war coming. And, I was a sergeant in World War I, you'll like being an officer much better.” And he made me join the COTC, which I did.

Description

Mr. Finestone recalls his father’s advice to join the COTC as the war approached.

Bernard J. Finestone

Mr. Finestone was born in Sacramento, California, and moved to Montreal when he was ten months old. His father served with the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery during the First World War. Mr. Finestone joined the COTC while he was studying at McGill University and when the war broke out he was in officer training. Mr. Finestone served as a tank commander in Italy and during the Italian Campaign, he was severely wounded. Mr. Finestone is an active speaker. He speaks to young Canadians about his military experiences and being a Jewish veteran.

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