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Selwyn Sangster and his brother both joined the Royal Canadian Navy as probationary writers. He was sent to Halifax, Nova Scotia and worked at HMCS Stadacona. He was then transferred to the destroyer HMCS Niagara and moved up to a leading writer. He was then sent to British Columbia, and was demobilized in Ottawa, Ontario prior to the war’s end.
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Selwyn Sangster in Waterloo, Ontario, August 2012.
HDI
I remember as a kid being concerned about the war. But I joined the [Royal Canadian] Navy when I was 17. The war had started. But my brother and I both joined the navy as probationary writers. We’d take care of the records of the navy [ship]. We had to do basic training on Carling Avenue behind the school there. And we did basic training there and then we were transferred – some of us were transferred to Halifax [Nova Scotia] and I was transferred to a ship, to the [HMCS] Niagara. But I was on board the ship and we went out on the Atlantic. My sleeping quarters were over my desk. And I had a desk and my sleep quarters were a cot over the desk where I slept at night time. The other people who were on board ship who were sleeping were down below in other positions, but I was up above on the upper deck.