An excerpt from

They Were so Young: Montrealers Remember World War II
by Edited by Patricia Burns

The reason I joined the Black Watch was because my friends were joining. On a Saturday morning, December 6, 1939, a group of us from Lachine got together and said, "What do you say we join as volunteers?"
We arrived at the armoury, gave our names, and signed papers. They sent the whole gang of us for a medical. We were 19-20 years old and in very good physical condition, so we passed the physical. We went back and they gave us First War uniforms because Canada was not ready to go to war. We were issued a kilt, which is quite a funny feeling when you are used to wearing pants.
None of us were patriotic. We thought we’d go to England, have a good time, and then go and help out the French behind their Maginot Line which was impregnable. We figured the war would not last very long and we would be safe. We also did it because we were young and nobody could get a job. The government had given orders to the big shops in Lachine not to hire anyone from the age of 18 to 25. That’s how they forced the young generation to go to war. We wanted adventure, too, because none of us came from rich families and didn’t have the chance to travel too much.

–Paul Champagne