Russell George McCallum

Russell George McCallum was born on September 17, 1921, in Toronto, Ontario to Mildred Alma McCallum, his mother, and Frederick Lee McCallum, his father. He also had a sister, Norma Jean McCallum. He attended Brock Ave. Public School, and completed 2 years of high school at Central Technical School. He went to St. Andrews College for one year, before working at Hamilton Gear & Machine Company as a machinist. Even though he was officially a machinist, McCallum aspired to be a musician, and because of this, at the age of 16, McCallum enlisted in the band of the Toronto Scottish Regiment. He stayed there from February through September 1939, where he was nicknamed "Junior", and he was discharged when the band went overseas because he was underage. He then continued to join the Queen's Own Rifles band as a drummer in November 1940. McCallum enlisted in the active army on January 13, 1941, at which point his parents were separated, and he spent 6 months training in Toronto before going to the UK for more training. He trained for 3 years before launching to Juno Beach, where he was still underage, but taken along anyway. He was killed on D-Day (June 6, 1944) almost instantly, shot down from a landing craft at the age of 22.
On January 23, 1941, McCallum enlisted in the Queen's Own Rifles' (QOR) active army. On July 29, they departed Canada, leaving for Gourock, Scotland for overseas assault training in preparation for the Normandy attack. This training was mainly focused on fire and movement, training soldiers to get used to making quick decisions and quickly adapting to their surroundings, as well as fostering teamwork. During his time in Scotland, on December 18, McCallum left the barracks without authorisation for 7 hours and 30 minutes, forfeiting 6 days of pay, and being confined to the barracks for 5 days. Once he got back to Canada, he spent some time training here before going to the UK. While he was in the UK, on September 7, 1943, he was again Absent Without Leave for 1 day and 8 hours, and as punishment he forfeited this time 12 days of pay ($1.50 per day), and he was confined to the barracks for another 5 days. He was one of the youngest QOR riflemen.