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5 Volume 73 Number 1
15 February 2021
winter clothing and fur-lined boots. There was no not good enough for the electrical branch. I was
bus service after 11 PM, and I got off about 2.30 given three options: a Writer, a Cook, or a Medi-
AM. I nearly froze to death one early morning, cal Assistant. There was a problem; I didn’t un-
but fortunately, a prowling police car picked me derstand navy lingo yet. I thought ‘writer’ meant
up and took me home. There was almost no so- I had to create novels, essays, or sonnets. So, no
cial life because of working night shift. to that. (turned out, “writer” meant an office
worker). As to being a cook, I didn’t join up to be
I was now 17 and 5 months of age and out of a cook; so, no to option two, which left #3, the
work. Dad’s construction company gave me a few medical branch. This decision turned out to be
weeks work on a framing crew. This led to electri- the right one, as it was a small branch and pro-
cal work for a sub-contractor, drilling holes in motions came quicker. So, I was now an OS-
studs and running wires through. My electrical MAS, or ‘Oz-Maz’ as my friends called me. I was
career was short lived, however, about six weeks, assigned an official number 17513-E.
as I mistakenly ran the wires through all studs,
including where As to pay, it
doors and win- was $85/
dows would go. month all
A very ticked found. This in-
off electrician cluded food,
warned me to shelter, cloth-
be more careful ing, and boot
and gave me allowance, free
one more medical and
chance. It was dental, and 30
now March, days paid
1952 and fate leave per year.
was now beck- We couldn’t
oning me in keep it all,
another direc- however, there
tion, straight were deduc-
into a Royal tions for in-
Canadian Navy come tax and
recruiting of- the pension
fice. fund. This gave
me about $15
From March, a week to
1952 and for spend any way
the next five Len’s cap tally reads HMCS Discovery I wanted.
years my em-
ployer was the Canadian government. I was in- Most of my leaves were back with family in Cal-
ducted in that well known sea port, Calgary; spe- gary, working on one of Dad’s framing crews.
cifically, the reserve naval base, HMCS Tecum- Once, I worked with some Germans building a
seh, where I was given a cursory medical exam fence that went on forever. The routine was: Use
Are you upright and breathing! if yes, sign here. post-hole digger, insert post, tamp down, add
I was enrolled as OSEMS (Ordinary Seaman Elec- wire, move 15 feet, repeat. Eventually, the sur-
trician’s Mate Standard) which means untrained vey man signaled us to turn 90 degrees and head
and useless. east, and the endless fence went on.
As there were now half a dozen raw recruits float- Meanwhile, back at the Naval base, the four-
ing around the base, we were given travel vouch- month program ended, and I was assigned to the
ers and shipped off via CPR to Nova Scotia for West Coast naval base in Esquimalt, called HMCS
basic training. The name of the training base was Naden. This involved another trans-Canada rail
HMCS Cornwallis, the largest naval base in the journey, all very nice, and a shipmate and I got
British Empire. It was a four-month program, to ride in the cab of the locomotive, a Royal Hud-
turning boys into men. Step one was a more son, from Sudbury to Regina, all very exciting,
thorough medical. Turned out my eyesight was
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