Enlisting at Age 15

Enlisting at Age Fifteen

Well, I quit school to, to join the army, I was in grade 10 at the time. I was fifteen and I thought I, I should, well I guess I shouldn't put it that way, I wanted to, to join the army, so I did.

Interviewer: You joined the army at fifteen?

Yes.

Interviewer: How did you manage to do that?

Attempt Number One

Actually I, this may sound as if I didn't have a happy home life but I did, but I also, I suppose, had a spirit of adventure, some might call it foolhardiness but I, with a couple of friends, early in 1940, went down to try to join the Merchant Navy, and, we weren't successful. The, the ship that would have taken us had just sailed out of the harbour and thank God for that because it was an Estonian ship and, and it probably didn't survive too long in the, during the war.


Attempt Number Two

Well, in the spring of 1940 I joined the, the militia, the 8th Hussars, and they went active in July, I believe it was, of 1940, and of course they shipped, they shipped me home along with my brother and, one of my brothers, and quite a number of friends because, because we were underage.

Attempt Number Three

I then had an opportunity to join the New Brunswick Rangers, which I did. They were militia as well at that time, non-permanent active militia. And all of the time, of course, I wanted to be on active service.

Attempt Number Four

In November, I heard that the Royal Rifles were in Camp Sussex, which was only about twenty miles from home, and with another chap, I went up there and, and they, they, they took me, they enlisted me. So that was November 4th in 1940.

Interviewer: And your age at that time, Mr. Ewing?

Was fifteen. Well I suppose I stretched the truth a little bit, I said that I was nineteen and, and they accepted that although I'm sure that they, powers that be, knew that I wasn't nineteen but didn't realize I was young as I was. They, they probably thought that I was seventeen or eighteen.