First Enlistment
Heroes Remember
First Enlistment
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There was no work.
One of the things now that we don't tell the children
was that I can remember where we lived
and you'd look up the street and
all the young people were sitting on their first stoop.
When the war broke out that's where they got their first dib.
After the war broke out and they started recruiting,
we didn't see anybody sitting out front they were all in the Arm.
I wanted to fly.
My cousin and I decided we were going
to join the Army for the Kings visit, that was in 1939.
And what a beautiful day it was.
We got drowned standing up it rained so hard.
Anyway, I came home with an Army uniform with the medical core.
Poor mother started to cry.
I was sixteen. So we went to, just out the road here,
out the street here and that was the Drill Shed.
And this regimental sergeant major came out and says,
"Who is the Doiron around here?" "I am sir."
"Go home, you're to young."
Mind you he put an adjective in front of that. I didn't
know it till I came back from overseas in 1945 how I got out.
My dad and the colonel, Colonel Andrews, a doctor,
were good friends. That's how I got out.
My cousin stayed in.
He was in D-day, he got killed at Caen.You start off as a
teenager and all of a sudden you're an old man.
Didn't take very long.
Related Videos
Second Enlistment
Mr. Doiron turns 18 and enlists again wanting to become a pilot. He explains why he became a radio operator instead.
Last day as a Training Pilot
Mr. Doiron remembers how his world came apart when he failed as a pilot. He also recalls how insignificant his failure seemed when his friend killed himself while flying the very next day.
From Training in Mossbank to Being Bombed in Bournemouth
Mr. Doiron explains how his talent for morse code got him recruited by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and sent off to England.
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