Veteran Charles Tanton

   Charles Tanton enlisted in 1944. He was not quite 18, and he was looking for more excitement then fishing oysters out of Malpeque Bay. He began his basic training in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, which lasted for about two months. His starting wage was a whole 75 cents per day.
   Then he was shipped by train to Kentville, Nova Scotia, for advanced training. This is where he learned how to operate multiple guns and equipment such as rifles, Bren guns, browning automatic machine guns, mortars, and hand grenades. Many soldiers walked away from the rifle range with broken noses from improperly aiming the gun. Wake up call was at 7:00 a.m. sharp, and he had to march past his CO with his fellow troops daily for inspection.
   The next two stops in Charles’ journey were in Berryfield, and Brockville which are near Kingston, Ontario. This was where Charles learned to operate large military trucks used to transport supplies and troops. All of the military vehicles had steering on the right hand side of the vehicle. He also received a pay raise of 25 cents, so he was now earning a dollar a day.
   After his time in Ontario, Charles was shipped out to Sussex, New Brunswick. Here, he experienced more weapons training. He had to run most days to the gun range 5 miles away in time for training. Other days, he would have to crawl through the mud as browning machine guns fired tracer rounds mere feet above his head to simulate front line scenarios.
   The final stop was in Truro, Nova Scotia. He got another pay raise, and was now making $1.25 dollar a day as a driver mechanic, although 20 dollars a month had to be sent back home. Since his last name began with a "T", he was also one of the last men to receive his pay and would sometimes only walk away with a couple of dollars. The money he did get was usually spent on beer, which was served for 10 cents a glass, or 25 cents a quart.. This camp was by far the largest he had ever been in, which contained about 10,000 men. He can still remember the day the war was won. All of the men were ordered to stay at camp, because riots were already happening in Halifax from excited soldiers arriving home from Europe.
   In all the camps Charles was at, he preformed guard duty at least once per week. No civilians were allowed in the camp. Fire patrols also had to go around the camp and put briquettes in the stoves. Even though the men would work for four hours in the middle of the night, they were still expected to train the same as everyone else the next morning. A typical work week was six days long, with a church parade on Sundays.


Nick Tanton