Interviewer: Tell me Mr. Champoux, what do you remember about
your early schooling? What do you recall about the schooling
that you attended?
Well, if it hadn’t been for the war, I was going to finish
Ottawa Technical High School.
I was interested in various subjects at the time.
But then the war broke out and I only had the one year high
school at the time and I was, because of that September I was,
I was to return to school and to find out my what room I would be
going into for my second grade.
But the part that I was going to be moving into at the school,
it was under construction then. They weren’t finished, and that
was in September. So they said, “Well you go home,
and we’ll let you know when you can come in.”
I was on my bike and on the way back I said, “The heck with this”
I think I’ll go to the Navy and try and join the Navy.
They weren’t, they weren’t called yet to recruit or anything,
but they took my name and “We’ll give you a call
when we get the word that we can take the recruits in.”
So that wasn’t good enough for me on my way home again on my bike
See I was in the NPM, Non Permanent Militia and at the drill hall
the Cameron Highlanders were recruiting. But on the way,
the Air Force, I had to pass the, in front of Chateau Laurier
actually they had an office there.
And I dropped in there as well, and again they didn’t have
any word about recruiting but they took my name. So I said
the heck with this. I drove back to the drill hall and I joined
the regular force NPAM from the NPM.