[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

Haven't the time to go into the heart of the matter right now, but suffice to say, a ZOMBIE was one of those Canadians who donned the uniform (either voluntarily or through the draft) but refused to volunteer for Overseas Service. There were many. The enabling legislation was enacted in order to avoid pissing off Quebecers, who were laregly against the "Anglo" war (ignore the French connection), but it also allowed all others the same lattitude. In the fall of 1944, the 'Conscription Crisis' nearly brought down Mackenzie King's government, but he narrowly avoided defeat by finally ordering conscripts - or Zombies, all willing conscripts had already gone - overseas, but most of the 25,000 they sent never reached frontline units until the war was almost over. Approximately 5,000 hit the front, but very few actually saw combat and even fewer were killed or wounded.

Most of the dying had already been done by those who had indeed volunteered.

There's an important distinction to be made here, and I'll use my father as an example... he joined the service (RCAF in this case) and volunteered for Overseas Service, in late 1944. However, the war was over by the time he could have been sent. Hence, he never went overseas, but no, he WASN'T a Zombie... that term was and is used to define those who could have but declined the opportunity.

Next point... service numbers were in consecutive blocks, the blocks being allocated in advance to Militia Districts and recruiting offices. There is NO correlation between service numbers and one's choice of overseas or home service. A long-time member of the Canadian Army Overseas could easily have had a six-digit number, perhaps even consecutive to a long-time Zombie at home in Canada.

Lastly, Canadian Regiments never fielded more than one battalion per regiment... those militia units in particular activated in WW2 usually sent their "1st Battalion" overseas while their "2nd Battalion" was a recruiting shell at home for reinforcements (which themselves could get posted anywhere once overseas).

The whole situation regarding troop-staffing was a mess throughout the war, and it's a subject I'd like dearly to see explored in detail on MLU. Peter Ford offered to do it for me, then died shortly thereafter...

I'll get to it one of these days.

Does this help, Carmen?

G.