Issue #25: Fall 2009

The Boys of War

by Bob Bagnall, BASc'49

Seventy years ago war was declared. Sixty years ago the class of '49 graduated from UBC. In between, 65 young men taking the No. 2 Canadian Army University Course at UBC completed an intense year of study before serving in WWII. I was one of them.

We were among 1,100 boys attending universities across Canada who absorbed 44 hours of lectures and labs every week from September 1943 to May 1944. To qualify for the course, we had to be between 17 and 19, in good health and have junior and senior matriculation marks of 75 per cent or better in math, physics and chemistry. The army’s intention was to create a pool of NCOs and officers for the Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and the Canadian Military Engineers.

After a month of basic training in Alberta we arrived on campus in September and were housed in the wartime huts at Acadia Camp. We marched to class each day in uniform and returned in the evening for two and a half hours of compulsory homework. The curriculum was weighted heavily to sciences and math. Discipline was provided by a captain and three sergeants, who were present 24 hours a day. Pay was $1.30 per day, which didn’t leave much opportunity for hi-jinks!

On graduation, we were offered a choice of serving with the Infantry, Artillery or Armoured forces. Most of us became NCOs and some of us officers during the last year of the war.

The army university course was arduous and difficult, but we cherish the fellowship and camaraderie that it spawned and have maintained a close association over the past 65 years. Many of us returned to UBC to complete our education in engineering. This September, the class of '49 returned to campus to celebrate the 60th anniversary of graduation.