While neither of them — Hubert Alexander, formerly of Stephenville, and John Gaudet of Kippens — saw action during their three years each in the service, both have been dedicated Legion members since.
Gaudet has spent 42 years with the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 35 in Stephenville, while Alexander has been a member since leaving the military, with the exception of a few years.
Both men plan to take part in the Remembrance Day ceremonies on Nov. 11 and honour those soldiers who came before them and after them.
They found it remarkable they could sign up right in Stephenville at the A.V. Gallant store building, which Alexander said hasn’t changed much since then.
For both, the allure of joining the military was exciting, even though they both had jobs on the Ernest Harmon Air Force Base in Stephenville at the time. Alexander was working as a receiving classification clerk and Gaudet worked in the motor pool.
It was April 1956 that both went into the recruiting office to sign up.
“Join the men who serve Canada,” read the recruiting poster that attracted Alexander, who was just 17 at the time. He remembers a picture on that poster of a soldier with a hard hat. Gaudet, who was 22, said he joined on a whim.
Two weeks later, both men and a number of others from western Newfoundland, got called to St. John’s to get more paper work done before heading off to their respective bases.
Alexander was sent off to Garrison Petawawa, Ont., an infantry base. Gaudet went to Canadian Forces Base London, Ont., and was enroled in the airborne infantry.
But for both, a long-term military career wasn’t to be.
Alexander was offered a package to go to night school and upgrade his education, but wouldn’t take it as he didn’t want to go to Germany. He instead spent the last part of his career in the barber shop.
Had Gaudet been offered something overseas, he would have stayed in the military, but that offer didn’t come and he spent his last year in the military in company stores.
The two men ended up leaving the military a week apart in 1959 — Gaudet on May 2 and Alexander on May 9.