Corporal Preston Duncan Campbell
In the Army Now
Preston's Years in Canada
1941-1944
Fit to Fight
Preston's first day in uniform was October 30th, 1941.
Six weeks earlier, 21-year-old Preston had undergone a medical examination in O'Leary, Prince Edward Island during which, the physician noted that Preston had had his left pinky finger amputated.
Preston noted on his form that he was a farmer, that he had only completed Grade 4 education, leaving school at 13 years old, and that he did not know how to drive or to repair an engine. He also says he had no cooking experience nor any hobbies.
Notwithstanding this physical impediment and lack of proper education, the doctor classified Preston as "Fit. Category A." His height and weight were listed as 6'1" and 165 lbs.
Conscription
The National Resources Mobilisation Act of 1940 (NRMA) came into existence in Canada largely in reaction to events in Europe. In only a few short months in early 1940, the German armed forces had steamrolled through Norway, Denmark and France.
In Canada, the reaction by government was to pass the NRMA which greatly increased the powers of the Federal Government to more efficiently harness the resources of the nation. The most important of these resources to be harnessed was manpower.
This was one of the most important discoveries that I found in searching through Uncle Preston's service file. Preston Duncan Campbell did not, as I had alwasy believed, volunteer to join the Army out of a sense of duty, or any desire to get away from rural PEI.
He was a conscript.
The 'Zombie' Men of the NRMA
The National Resources Mobilisation Act (NRMA) created a system of national registration and compulsory training for all young men aged 21-24 when it first came into existence. At first it was envisioned that NRMA conscripts would complete their military training and then return to civilian life to await call up for active service if necessary. Similarly, conscripts under the scheme were not liable for active service overseas unless they volunteered to do so by transferring to the Active Service Force and thus the NRMA conscripts faced systematic pressure and incentives to volunteer for active service overseas.
When the scheme first came into being, hastily established training centres across 39 Canadian cities struggled to cope with the large influx of numbers and to provide meaningful training without weapons or other tools of the trade in a short 30-day training period. Moreover, the trained men were immediately returned to their civilian lives on completion. The program was fulfilling a political need to seem to be taking action, but was not meeting the military requirement for properly trained reinforcements for Home Defence.
By April 1941 the complexion of the war had changed and the NRMA followed suit. Japan had launched surprise attacks on the US and UK and were rapidly advancing throughout China and Southeast Asia. In Europe, Italy had entered the war in alliance with the Axis powers. In response to this new crisis, and in a bid to make the compulsory training scheme more efficient, the Canadian Army altered the 30-day curriculum to a 4-month curriculum - 2 months of basic training and 2 months of advanced training. After the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June of 1941, the NRMA changed again to provide reinforcements to Home Defence units thereby freeing up volunteers for active service to be deployed overseas.
The system effectively created two armies: the 'A' men (volunteers for active service overseas) and the 'R' men (the Reserve army made up of conscripts). The two groups trained side by side in the training centres across the country and a fierce rivalry developed between the two groups often encouraged by, and leading to, open discrimination. The 'R' men would come to be known derogatorily as 'Zombies'; neither living (active service soldiers) nor dead (civilians) but somewhere in between.
Preston was an 'R' man. He was a Zombie.
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Basic Training
Private P.D. Campbell commenced his eight-week basic training course on November 1st, 1941. His introducton to military life would be provided by No. 62 Canadian Army Basic Training Centre (62 CABTC) which had taken over the Beach Grove Inn overlooking the North River in Charlottetown, PEI.
While conducting his basic training, Preston became very ill with bronchiectasis and was admitted to the camp hospital on December 13th, 1941. He would spend Christmas and New Year's Day in hospital, and was not discharged until January 12th, 1942 having spent a full month in the ward. He was granted sick leave until January 25th, and then recommenced his training. He completed his 44 days of basic training on May 12th, 1942, despite having been posted there for a total of 194 days.
Today, the site of the former Beach Grove Inn is next to the current Beach Grove Home, a senior citizen's complex in Charlottetown. The photo gallery above shows photos and postcards of the hotel with a grand lawn and walkway in the foreground leading to the river bank. This walkway can still be seen in satellite imagery today. The photo of Preston is taken in front of the southwest corner of the building while he was here conducting Basic Training in 1941.
Gunner Campbell, F4972
Having completed basic training (finally) in May '42, Preston was allocated duties in the Home Defence Army as a Gunner in the Royal Canadian Artillery (RCA).
Basic training only prepares soldiers for basic rifleman duties, so Preston was posted to training centre A23 Coastal Defence and Anti-Aircraft Artillery Advanced Training Centre located in Eastern Passage, across the harbour from Halifax, Nova Scotia.
His artillery training here lasted only about four weeks and on June 9th, Preston was posted to his first operational unit in the Home Defence army, 46th Light Anti-Aircraft Artillery Troop which was a sub-unit of the 21st Anti-Aircraft Regiment based at Camp Aldershot in the Annopolis Valley of Nova Scotia. But things kept changing rapidly.
Only three days after joining his new unit at Aldershot, Preston spent another 18 days admitted to hospital from 12-30 June 1942. A medical examination during this period notes that P.D. had a tatoo of an anchor on his right forearm, which had not been noted on his entry medical examination. Perhaps it wasn't noteworthy enough when he was conscripted for the civilian doctor to make mention of the tattoo, or perhaps P.D. found his way into a tatoo parlour along the Naval dockyards in Halifax one night while conducting his Artillery training there. For my money, I prefer the latter theory.
Transfer to Active Service
It was not long after Preston's discharge from hospital that he made the jump from the Reserve to the Active Service force. In doing so he now became liable for overseas service.
But there were few opportunities to get overseas as a soldier in 1942. With the Nazis in firm control of the European continent, by this time pushing deep into the heart of the Soviet Union, the only fighting on land for Canada's Army Overseas in 1942 would come after the OPERATION TORCH landings by Allied Forces in North Africa in November, where eventually 1st Canadian Division would serve under British General, Bernard Montgomery.
Defending the Flyboys
For the time being, Preston would continue to serve with his same unit, the 46th L.A.A. Troop at Aldershot albeit on increased pay of $1.30 per day as an Active Service 'A' man. This lasted for several months until he was posted to the 22nd AA regiment based out of St. John, N.B. but attached to a troop providing AA defence for No. 8 Service Flying Training School in Moncton, N.B. This was a training establishment set up early in the war as part of the Commonwealth Air Training Plan (CATP), a program designed by Churchill and Candian Prime Minister William Lyon MacKenzie King as a means of quickly providing trained pilots for the Battle of Britain.
No. 8 Service Flying Training School was an Advanced Training School where pilots received their final 16 weeks of flying training to be qualified as either fighter pilots or bomber pilots. No. 8 SFTS conducted training in the Avro Anson (shown below) and the North American Harvard. While the direct air threat against North American airfields was low, no doubt having the AA troop from Preston's regiment on site afforded opportunities for training new pilots how to deal with AA fire.
Transfer to the Infantry Corps
Preston would remain in Moncton for eight months in total from November of '42 until June 1st, 1943. During this period he was hospitalised twice more; from December 12th to January 4th, and from January 13th-17th; on both occasions for a common cold.
It was during this period as well that his service records indicate he transferred into the Canadian Infantry Corps (1st January, 1943) but remained with his artillery unit at the Flying School. Presumably he had to wait to get onto his infantry training courses but in the meantime, his pay was increased again to $1.50 per day.
There were far worse ways to make a living in these years then protecting an airfield that was an ocean away from the nearest fighting. But Preston's transfer to the Infantry suggests that he was growing bored of Home Defence and likely looking for the surest way to get himself overseas.
Marking Time...
On the 1st of June, 1943, Preston was posted back to his previous regiment, 21st AA Regiment, but this time located in Halifax rather than Aldershot. Over the next 5 months he would serve in various AA batteries of the regiment, but all the time located in Halifax.
On August 2nd, Preston was interviewed to determine if he was fit for service in the Canadian Army Overseas. He was listed in his paperwork as 6'1" tall and weighing 193 lbs. If true, this would mean Preston had gained nearly 20 lbs in two years despite his series of illnesses and hospitalisations.
The interviewing officer found Preston to be "...amiable, but rather sluggish in his responses." He was also rather critical of Preston's education stating "He was needed at home so his schooling suffered. His [mathematics] test reflects this fact only too clearly." Neither was he impressed with Preston's service record, stating " His training record, while not impressive shows that he can do his work in artillery." Nonetheless the doctor deemed him "...suitable for overseas service."
But first, Preston had another year of training ahead of him before he arrived in the European theatre.
The Final Touch
On the 17th of December, 1943, Private P.D. Campbell finally left the artillery branch after serving nearly two years in various units across Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. He now joined 61 Canadian Army Basic Training Centre (CABTC) in New Glasgow, NS. Here, Preston underwent three weeks of basic training refresher, prior to joining 60 CABTC at Yarmouth, NS for his initial infantry training course from February until April 1944.
Having already two years in the service, he excelled throughout this training period. He was particularly recognised for his excellent marching and drill on parade as well as his aggression in hand-to-hand bayonet fighting. He scored very highly on his marksmanship evaluations, and also in map reading, but his respiratory problems continued to nag him. The instructors noted about his physical fitness, "Not skillful, but works hard." Overall he was described as "Smart, neat, reliable soldier. [...] Pleasing personality [...] outstanding in platoon."
Yet despite his excellent report, Preston clearly had some lingering doubt about his role as a rifleman. The instructor noted on his report, "Wishes to go to Engineers, not fond of infantry..." Understandably so. Canadian soldiers had spent 1943 getting chewed up through Sicily and Italy, and now in April '44, with the Normandy landings only two months away, a level of apprehension would have gripped most people in his position.
Nonetheless, Preston went on to finish his advanced Infantry training back at Aldershot in the Annopolis Valley between April 10th and May 18th. Finally, his last training before heading to Europe was a driver's course in Woodstock, Ontario to allow him to drive any number of vehicles that accompanied a fighting unit in the battlefield.
The long period of training and waiting was over. Private Preston Duncan Campbell was finally heading off to war.