Kenneth Allan Dubroy

I quit school at age 16 and went to join the army. I lied about my age; I doctored up my registration card and I didn’t produce a birth certificate but they took me in anyway. This was in Ottawa and the recruiting officer said to be at Union Station tomorrow morning at seven o’clock and I was, with a bunch of other guys. And away we went to Kingston, Ontario to be issued our uniforms and start our drilling on the parade square. And then I was asked if I was interested in motors and mechanical and driving and all that sort of thing and I said I was, so they put me in the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps. And then in the spring of 1944, I was fully trained and I was going to proceed overseas. And they gave us what they called embarkation leave, which is leave before you go overseas. I went home to Ottawa and I told my father I’m going overseas and he said, oh, goodbye. And I got back to Camp Borden to get ready to proceed overseas and I was called up by the commanding officer and he said, how old are you? And I said, I’m 19, sir. He said, no you’re not, you just turned 17 and your father sent in your true birth certificate, so you cannot go overseas because you’re only 17. So they took me off the overseas draft and I stayed in Camp Borden, riding motorcycles and driving. In the Army Service Corps, we supplied the army with ammunition, food, oil and gas and all that sort of thing. And we had these truck convoys which we practiced with and as a motorcyclist, I would ride up and down the convoy, looking for breakdowns, accidents, etc. And then at crossroads, the motorcyclists would direct traffic. And then in the fall of 1944, I was sent to the Canadian Army Trades School in Hamilton, Ontario to take a driver mechanics course and that took most of the winter of 1944/45. And by the time I was of age to go overseas, the war was over.