After passing his medical, Russ quit his job with the CNR and went under pay with the army. He and Perry received uniforms they were to wear at all times when in public. They were among the three hundred and fifty men from Owen Sound accepted by the Foresters Active Force, volunteers to travel overseas. It had taken only a few weeks to fill the Foresters Active Force Company. There was also enlistment in a Foresters’ Home Force, mainly filled by older men who joined with the promise that they would not be sent outside North America.
At seven a.m. daily, they reported to the barracks in uniform for training. In large measure, this consisted of hours spent on the parade square. Being a rifle battalion, the Foresters were taught the quick march: one hundred forty paces per minute — each pace about thirty inches long, with arms swinging to the height of the breast pocket. As the recruits learned to perform simple march steps in unison, increasingly intricate drills were introduced.
“Squad, move to the right in threes, right — turn, by the left, quick — march!” echoed across the parade square outside the Owen Sound barracks. This was not the movie portrayal of an army drill, where profanity and sarcasm were hurled at left-footed recruits by drill instructors. Instead, there was a professional and sharply given series of instructions. After initial curiosity and some amusement at the exaggerated drill movements, many recruits probably wondered why the army kept them practicing drills when soldiers were supposed to be taught to fight. There was no doubt the army took drill very seriously. Even if it had been explained that drill was a way of instilling discipline, pride, and the cohesion needed for success in battle, to the young men the repeated practice of the same routine over many hours was almost certainly a disappointment. What seemed needless attention to detail on the parade square was seen by their officers and non-coms as instilling qualities needed to endure the stress of war. In the army’s view, the skill with which a unit drilled was a direct indication of the skill of the troops and their officers.[8]
Russ photographed beside his home in Owen Sound shortly after enlisting with the Grey and Simcoe Foresters.
The Foresters lacked room to house all the new troops, so men from town stayed at home overnight, while recruits from the surrounding towns and countryside stayed in the barracks. Owen Sound now had a military feel to it, as the more than five hundred men in the overseas and home service units were required to wear their uniforms at all times. The feeling that Canada was at war was unmistakeable.
Russ and Perry arrived at the arena for the Georgians’ next home game following a full day of training. For the first time they arrived in their army uniforms. It gave a different feeling to the dressing room. Since the Foresters began recruiting, local men on the team now fell into two categories: those who had enlisted and those who had not. When Russ and Perry took to the floor and looked into the stands, there too they saw men in uniform peppered among the spectators. There was a filter now separating them from those not in uniform. The Georgians easily defeated the visiting Burlington club. Perry was quick on his feet, darting tirelessly through the opposition defence, while Russ was reliable stopping opponents who ventured toward Owen Sound’s goal. Their team had so far only been beaten twice this season, both times by Orangeville, the league leaders. After the game, Perry, Gerry, Jack MacLeod, and several other Georgians players dropped by the Colombo house. They sipped rye whiskey on the front porch. Their voices and laughter grew louder as they relaxed. Before long Blanche came outside, and they fell silent.
“Oh, Sweet,” she said to Russ, “could you and your friends be a little quieter. I’m afraid you are going to disturb the neighbours.” Addressing the others she said, “It’s so nice to see you boys. I don’t know why Russel never brings his friends home.” Russ turned his eyes towards the ceiling as she went back inside.[9]
The silence was palpable as Russ’s friends and teammates looked at each other.
“Sweet?” one of the players was barely able to get out before breaking into hysterical laughter.
“Sweet!” the others took up the refrain. “Sweet!” they repeated over and over, howling with laughter. Twenty-four-year-old Russ wondered what his mother could have been thinking. Inside, Blanche heard the laughter and was glad that Russ was having such a good time with his friends.
The following Saturday, at seven a.m. sharp, the Active Force Foresters from Owen Sound arrived at the barracks with an army knapsack holding personal belongings. They boarded twenty trucks and travelled in convoy to Camp Borden, escorted from Collingwood by two Royal Canadian Air Force planes.
Camp Borden was the country’s major army base and home to Canada’s largest military airfield. Driving into the camp that Saturday afternoon, the Foresters entered a small military city, with dozens of huts and barracks, fifteen thousand soldiers, and fields filled with hundreds of tents. Feelings among the arriving recruits were mixed. Some felt they were at the start of an adventure, others wondered what they had gotten themselves into, and some were already homesick. As the trucks stopped, and the men jumped out, the Foresters saw a small village of tents erected by their advance party. Arranged with precision in rows and columns, the tents were allocated to the four companies comprising the Foresters: Company A from Owen Sound; B Company from Barrie; C from North Bay, Kirkland Lake, and Timmins; and D Company from Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury.
The men were taken to the camp storehouse where they were issued a blanket and a straw-filled mattress called a pallaise. Soon after, the Foresters’ mess tents were opened and the men received their first army meal.
That evening there was time for reflection, and it began sinking in that they had committed themselves to a way of life ending most personal freedoms. Some were undoubtedly having second thoughts, but those were by and large kept to themselves. Despite orders to the contrary, liquor bottles appeared from soldier’s knapsacks, and as the evening wore on it helped turn the mood more cheerful. A recruit was hoisted onto the roof of one of the latrines by his mates and began singing. Foresters strolled over for the impromptu concert, a crowd forming and joining in the songs. It helped relieve some of the melancholy, and the officers, sitting in their mess, took it as a good sign as the men strolled back to their tents singing “Pack Up Your Troubles.”[10]
The next day Russ woke at six a.m. to the harsh blaring of a trumpet playing reveille. A sergeant yelled they had an hour to wash, shave, eat, and then assemble for an address by the colonel. The thousand men rushed about and assembled at the appointed time in their platoons on the crowded parade ground. They were inspected by their officers, and then Colonel Rutherford took his place in front of them. He told his second-in-command to have the men stand easy. The thousand men spread their legs shoulder width and relaxed, their arms at their sides, eyes focused straight ahead.
The address lasted more than an hour in the hot Sunday morning sun. Rutherford spoke of his expectations for them, and what their expectations should be of one another. He told them of the need for “comradeship, cooperation, cleanliness, and good conduct.” Rutherford had been a lieutenant with one of Owen Sound’s regiments in the Great War, and he told them of the camaraderie shared by the men he’d served with. He described the training they would undergo, from map reading to marksmanship. He would stand by them as their commanding officer, just as he expected each of them to stand by him and their fellows in representing the regiment.
The next weeks were filled with activities intended to turn the civilian recruits into soldiers. The days were spent with marching drills, rifle practice, and skewering with bayonets straw dummies strung from wooden gibbets.[11] After four weeks, the men seemed transformed. Their faces were tanned from the outdoor exercise, and they were already well-schooled in military discipline. However, the novelty of camp life had worn off.
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