Joining the Service

Heroes Remember

Joining the Service

Transcript

Interviewer: You indicated earlier, Mr. Finestone, that your 13th birthday was an important one. Do I take it that your faith is of the Jewish faith? That is correct. Interviewer: Did that have any special significance of what you knew about Hitler's Germany? Well, pretty obvious. I'm out at the moment lecturing school children on Remember Canada, Canada's Project and many of them asked me, “Why did you join the army? You describe war as a terrible thing, why did you do it?” And I tell them the absolute truth: If you were healthy, and you were a Canadian, and you were Jewish, there really was little choice. It was something that just had to be done. Interviewer: When you decided or made it known that you were going to become active, do you remember what your mother, her reaction? Do you remember her reaction? Oh, very well! She was an American as I told you. And therefore, I was an American. I was an American until I was 21 and the day I turned 21, they took my citizenship away from me because I was a commissioned officer under oath of allegiance to the King. But she said “You're an American! You don't have to go!” And I said, “I'm a Canadian and I'm Jewish and I do have to go.”

Description

Mr. Finestone recalls why he decided to join the service. His Canadian-Jewish background compelled him to go to war.

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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