Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command of The Royal Canadian Legion www.ns.legion.ca 141 Staley Alfred Goodwin, DOB April 18, 1926 4th Reconnaissance Regiment (4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards) New Brunswick Hussars A commitment to service, community and country, is the theme that permeated Staley Goodwin’s life. While he started his life in Pubnico, Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia his life of service started in earnest in the fall of 1942, when at the age of 16, he was working in the apple industry in the Annapolis Valley. Seeing others doing the same, he decided that he would lie about his age and join the Canadian forces. World War II had started several years before, and he decided this was his opportunity to serve. In January 1943 he headed into the town of Kentville and enlisted. When he was interviewed in 2006 by his grandson, Andrew Hilton, for a school project he told some of his stories. “I didn't have problems getting in. I had a card that we were issued back then, and I told them I lost it.” The card would have alerted the recruiting office that he was underage, so Staley decided to conveniently ‘lose it’. For those who knew Staley well, it would be safe to say that he would be described as someone who could figure out a way to get something done, usually through dedication and hard work. But from time to time, he was also known to bend a few rules here and there, especially when they did not make sense to him. On January 11, 1943 he started basic training at the Canadian Infantry Training Centre at Camp Aldershot. After what he described as a short training period, he was transferred to the Canadian Reconnaissance Training Centre (Camp Dundurn), in Saskatchewan for wireless training. After wireless operator training was completed, Staley, now seventeen years old, was deployed oversea. “We crossed to England on the Mauritania … first we went south toward Bermuda and then across (the Atlantic). We were Canadians and Americans, about 5000 of us”. He recalls landing in Scotland but quickly continuing on as he was deployed to Sicily. “Going down we were on a crowded Dutch ship. We had a convoy of American battleships and ships for the invasion of Sicily. I learned how to play cribbage on the way”. Cribbage would be a game that Staley played for many years after. He always took great joy teaching anyone who wanted to learn and once they knew the game, skunking anyone who would play. His howl of laughter was equally loud if he lost or won. After Sicily, he moved north into Italy with the 4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards. This was a time that he rarely talked about. His youngest daughter, Shelley, recalls a rare day in the early 1980’s when she was continued ...
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