This is a recorded message from your Man in Service

Click here for recording    An exciting find at a local militaria show in Toronto, and now on its way to the Juno Beach Centre in Normandy for the new temporary exhibit display opening in January 2014 – Normandy: Occupation to Liberation.

This is a recording of a serviceman, Gunner S.J. Ford of The Royal Canadian Artillery, sent to his wife in Toronto while he was training at Camp Debert, Nova Scotia.  The recording was sponsored by Pepsi-Cola and took place prior to Christmas, 1942.

Units from all five divisions of the First Canadian Army trained at Camp Debert prior to departure for Europe.

Little is known (yet) about Gunner Ford, but he appears to have survived the war, and it is fascinating to hear this “blast from the past”.  It may take you a couple of times, but you can make out most, if not all, of what he’s saying to his wife.