England - Maneuvers on and off the training fields
Arriving with the regiment just prior to Christmas, Cederberg and his compatriots fell into a deep funk of home sickness that exploring London and trying to figure out what the Cockneys might actually be saying helped to lessen.
Not long after they arrived, the senior officers and NCOs that had raised the Regiment were all to be sent home as being too old for combat. Most of these men were WWI veterans and took it in their stride of understanding how the army worked. The men were not so accomadating. The leadership were replaced with what came to be called "the Montrealers" At first this was not term of endearment. After a couple of weeks things came to a head and the Regiment basically went on strike. To quote Cowshit :
Quote:
"You know what 'no' means?" a Highlander yelled from a window.
"I think I do" replied the new RSM.
"Then fuck off!"
The men were willing to tell a Colonel where to head in but a LtGen showed up to work things out and ignoring him would have been too far for even these men who where still civilians in uniform. Things improved and one of the Alex Joes put the learning experience best :
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"Being in the army is like breaking your leg and learning to live with it"
As things settled down in the routine of training, transfers, promotions and the daily grind and routine of soldiering the home sickness lessened and the discipline increased. The Regiment became home and the men it brothers. By now Cederberg had been promoted twice ( after his uncle left for home, he would not accept a promotion with him still around ) and was a Sargent in the support platoon. The training schemes got more and more complex and the confidence of the men increased.
All was not army and training. The people of England welcomed these young men into their homes and the weddings abounded. Fred Cederberg was not in this group. Much to his own surprise, he found himself quite the lothario. While not really understanding what it was that attracted the ladies to him he was more than willing to accept the challenge....
One fine morning the platoon commander called him in to tell him he had been selected to be put on a preliminary course for officers. He and two others went off and completed this course. Like most of the training courses that the men went on they finished it promptly forgot about it. Months later after arriving back from a leave in Scotland he was informed that he had been selected to be sent home to take his commission. At the same time he was told the Regiment was going to Ireland "to train" without any of their vehicles. The men knew this meant they were shipping out to somewhere for the real thing. Not much training to be done without gear.
Cederberg could not bring himself to leave the Regiment after the previous two years and there was only one way to avoid it. Stay and he would be shipped out to Canada. So off he and his cousin Albert went to Scotland again for 5 fun in the sun days of AWOL. He was sure that someone on AWOL charges would never be made an officer. On arrival back at the Regiment he was hauled in front of the CO. The Colonel knew why he had buggered off and was not going to really punish that kind of loyalty. He marched out of the office a Corporal and short 5 days pay and still with his new family.
Two weeks later they boarded the SS Monterey and slipped the lines. The Cape Breton Highlanders, 11th Infantry Brigade, 5th Armoured Division were going to war.
Next, 1 Cdn Corps and the boot of Italy.
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