Enlisting for Service
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Within hours, days, and months many of our men - for only men were allowed in active combat - joined the armed forces. There was army, navy and air force to choose from. Their first choice was not always where they ended up. When the recruiting officers came to town they looked for suitability and skills for each division.

Who was signing up for military duty? The Great Depression that marked the decade of the 1930s left many Canadian men, of all age brackets, unemployed or underemployed. Many saw little hope for a successful future. When Canada followed Britain into the war many saw active combat as an opportunity to earn a pay cheque, give a sense of purpose to their lives by serving their country, and provide a great adventure while seeing the world. Few people could travel very far from home due to the cost and time it required. Many young men thought overseas duty would be like being paid to take a world trip. Their eyes were not yet open to the carnage of war. By late 1941, there were about seven thousand Islanders serving in the forces, receiving a payroll in the area of six million dollars.

Recruitment and Enlistment

How to join is now the question. In the early days of the war, Summerside youth wanting to join the air force travelled to the recruiting office in Charlottetown. Later the recruiters came to them right here in Summerside. Many young men dreamed of being in the air force for the very newness of aviation made it appear a romantic and dashing occupation. Army recruiters quickly set up shop in the Armoury on Summer Street. At the beginning of the war men had to be between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, be in top physical condition and pass a medical exam. Did you know Islanders had the highest standing in the country for physical fitness? Under the 1940 National Resources Mobilization Act, the government promised not to force any trained man to serve overseas. Did you know Newfoundland was considered overseas duty? As the war dragged on and the number of eligible men decreased, the age requirement fell to seventeen and the recruiters weren't quite so particular. The issue of conscription was raised but in many ways that wasn't where the pressure came from to join. It was social and peer pressure. The look given on the street or name calling with words like yellow and zombie had a powerful effect.

  When you arrived at the recruiting office to enlist the procedure included a medical exam. In the early days of the war it didn't take a whole lot wrong with you to fail. If you didn't pass the medical you were given a rejection pin or Applicant for Enlistment Badge to wear so that no one would call you names. As it became harder to get recruits the doctors weren't as particular and maybe you could make it on the second or third round.


Things To Do!!!
  • Why was serving in Newfoundland considered serving overseas?
  • A Private in the Canadian army was paid $1.30 per day. What was his yearly salary? The army sent home to the mother or wife of a soldier half of his salary. Please write a letter as a soldier to your mother or wife telling her how you would like her to spend your pay cheque. Do you feel it was fair that half of a single man's pay went home to mother?
  • Many young men signed up for the war because of peer and public pressure. Do you think the pressure compares to what many young people feel on the playground today? Are there a number of battlefields in life? Have you ever looked back on what you thought was a battlefield and laughed?
  • Prince Edward Island was second only to British Columbia in the number of men to enlist in proportion to population. For a time P.E.I. led. What do you feel this says about Islanders and other Canadians?
    • "I suppose you are wondering why a handsome, fit gentleman such as myself hasn't enlisted. I'm no yellow-fleshed potato. I served in the First World War, known as the Great War, just over twenty years ago. Perhaps I will enlist in the Veterans Guard, or The Reserve Army, or The Air Raid Precaution Committee, or The Aircraft Detection Corps." After all, my country needs me.
      There are a number of different flesh coloured potatoes. Be sure to check out the PEI Potato Growers' Association website to see varieties and the importance the potato has played in the history of war. Have you found out from the website how many people potatoes can feed in comparison to the same acreage of wheat?