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Description
Mr. McKerracher speaks about his decision to join the army. He provides detail of his basic training and travel overseas as part of the anti-aircraft regiment.
Transcription
Yes, I went to the recruiting centre in Peterborough. And without a medical, or being sworn in, or anything, they give me a ticket, train ticket, to go to Ottawa, all by myself. So, I went to Ottawa. And I was met by a military person and taken to the fair grounds, where we were housed for some weeks, I don’t remember how long, probably three or four weeks, in an old agricultural building. They had double bunks in there, and it was kind of primitive. Well, I joined an anti-aircraft regiment, and one of the battery commanders in my regiment was Connie Smythe. We had our basic training in Cornwall, Ontario, and I can remember it being a lot of fun. From there, we went to Petawawa, and from Petawawa, we went overseas. So I was in the forces for about seven months, I guess, before I went over. No one is ever prepared to go to war, but we were happy with what we were doing. Except, the 40 mm Bofors weapon, which we were supposed to use, wasn’t available for practice or anything, or training on it, until we got to England. There, we finally got together with our weapon. For the next two years, we spent on coastal defence. Never fired a round in two years.