Ken MacKay tried to join the Royal Canadian Navy in 1941 at the age of 19 but was turned away for medical reasons.
He came back 10 months later with a clean bill of health and after some training in how to run the engine rooms, he sailed the Atlantic Ocean for a year-and-a-half until the Second World War had ended in Europe.
He shared his memories as a seaman during the war with the students at Crestview Public School Thursday afternoon, telling them stories how he not only helped keep the ship running, but was also the DJ and barber on board.
Now 92 years old, MacKay, who was born in Fort William but raised in Port Arthur, also shared a story of how his crew sank a German submarine and took on prisoners of war that would have otherwise drowned in the ocean.
And when the war in Europe was over, MacKay and his shipmates were given a choice to be discharged from service or head to the Pacific waters.
"All the married men took their discharge, but we all, the single men, we all stayed with the ship," he said.
But by the time they reached the Panama canal, the U.S. had dropped the atomic bomb on Japan and the war was over.
This was the first time MacKay addressed a group of students and said he wanted to share his story with the younger generation.
"It gives us a sense of patriotism and it lets them know about what some of the men went through to save our way of life and our society," MacKay said.
"It'll let them know about people that joined the service at a very young age, that they sacrificed their lives, a lot of them. They lost a lot of their youth while they were in the service," he added.
Grade 8 student Emma Johnson thought MacKay's story was incredible.
"I couldn't actually imagine someone in that moment," she said. "He's actually at our school; it's unbelievable, he was in the war. I have great respect for him."
Ian Campbell also found MacKay's story incredible, but he thought it was inspiring, too.
"It really changed what I thought about all of Remembrance Day and just war itself," said the Grade 6 student.
"I always thought you just went out there and you fought, but especially at the end when he said he had actually had fun and had a good experience. That's definitely different than what I usually hear," Campbell said.
While he learned there can be moments of levity in war, Campbell hasn't lost the true meaning of Remembrance Day.
"It means quite a bit to me because without them, I might not even have been here," he said.
Grade 8 student Samantha Sawyer believes everyone takes Remembrance Day seriously and she was moved by MacKay's story.
"It's very hard for us at our age to try to understand what this is all about because you don't really know how it is to be in that moment," she said.
"We try to remember everyone that's been to war and what they've done for us."
