Canadian Military History Volume 28 Issue 1 Article 26 2019 One of the Finest Sources of Recruits: The Canadian Cadet Movement During the Second World War Kevin Woodger Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.wlu.ca/cmh Part of the Military History Commons Recommended Citation Woodger, Kevin "One of the Finest Sources of Recruits: The Canadian Cadet Movement During the Second World War." Canadian Military History 28, 1 (2019) This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Canadian Military History by an authorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Woodger: One of the Finest Sources of Recruits One of the Finest Sources of Recruits The Canadian Cadet Movement During the Second World War KEVIN WOODGER Abstract : This article examines the history of the Sea, Army, and Air Cadet programs during the Second World War. The movement expanded rapidly during the war, with the assistance of the Canadian forces, which became more directly involved with the equipping, training, and administration of their respective cadet branches. Cadet training became increasingly sophisticated in an effort to provide cadets with the rudiments of modern military training in order to speed their transition into the armed forces when they reached enlistment age. The movement’s leaders viewed their primary role as providing pre-trained recruits to meet the needs of the military, and the military, for the most part, viewed former cadets as excellent recruit material. N 16 JULY 1942 a convoy of armoured vehicles and military Otrucks, including a jeep, an artillery transport, and six universal (Bren-gun) carriers, rolled into the town of Bolton, Ontario.