Home > CMH > Vol. 4 (1995) > Iss. 2
Abstract
Hugh McVicar was born in 1914 in Guelph, Ontario and graduated from Parkdale Collegiate in Toronto in late 1933. After a year at Toronto Normal School and work at a variety of occupations he joined Swift Canadian Company as a salesman. Married, with a young child and approaching 30 years of age, joining the army was “the farthest thing from his mind.” He was called up under the National Reserves Mobilization Act (NRMA) in March 1944 and immediately agreed to accept general service, meaning service overseas.
As a bookkeeper he was assigned to the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps but as a driver not a clerk. After bootcamp at the CNE in Toronto and basic training at Cornwall he was sent to Red Deer, Alberta for advanced training on trucks. On arrival in England in December 1944 he passed another medical and discovered that he was now Private McVicar, infantryman.
Recommended Citation
McVicar, Hugh "“Backdoor to War”: A Canadian Infantryman at Hochwald and Xanten, February–March 1945." Canadian Military History 4, 2 (1995)
