First Day Failure

I worked as a labourer, pushing a wheel barrow, mixing mortar. I worked on, like, the Halifax library. I worked on Mount Saint Vincent for a while. Then, I’m not sure, I might have worked two weeks on the VG when they were first filling it, you see. And most of that was just … since I got tired of that, I said, “I’m going in service.” Get away from my father, he was too strict. Take all my pay when I get paid, take it all and give me a couple of dollars, tell me it’s got to last me for a week, you know. So, I went down, went down three days. I failed the first day I went down. And my buddy said, “Didn’t you pass? ” I said, “No, I failed.” He said, “Go back tomorrow.” I said, “I failed today. How am I going to pass it tomorrow? ” He said, “Do like what I did.” They have all the chisels and hammers. Well, I didn’t know nothing about that so I … I went back. He says, “Just mark in the ones you don’t know and keep on going.” And that’s what I did. The sergeant said - he knew, too - he said, “You made it today, but you didn’t make it yesterday.” But that’s … that’s what I did, and that’s how I got in. The next time, I had to go for a medical. Down at Stadacona, over here. And then, on the third day, I … my father didn’t know what was going on. I just told him I was sick. Third day I went down, he said, “You going to work? ” I said, “I can’t.” He said, “What do ya mean? ” I said, “I’m going away today.” He said, “Where are you going? ” I said, “I’m going on the train. I’m going to a place called Petawawa.” “Petawawa? ” he said, “What’s that? Where’s that? ” I said, “It’s an army camp.” And I said, “You can’t get me out, because I already signed the papers and they told me if I don’t, I’ll go to jail.” So he said, “Okay then.” But my father should have checked and found out … had to be a certain age to go. And a friend of mine got some Carter’s ink. There was two types of it. You put it on and you just rubbed the two out and put a one there, you see, and that made me eligible. So, that’s what I did, and I went to Petawawa. I was seventeen, I think, because I was eighteen when I went to Korea, and I was in for pretty near a year before I went over to Korea.