I have seen it mentioned that American Bomber crews would have 25 mission tours of duty and then get rotated out, but for infantry it seems like you were in it until the end. What were the service requirements for members of the different branches of service and in different nations?
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In Canada until later in the war service in the Canadian military was voluntary and generally stayed enlisted until the wars end. Just over a million Canadians volunteered for war service which also included several thousand Americans who enlisted prior to the US entry into the war.
In late 1944 conscription was introduced due to unexpectedly high casualty rates following Dday and roughly 60,000 Canadians who were conscripted became known as “Zombies”. This was a highly controversial move especially in Quebec. The “Zombie” conscripts were supposed to stay in Canada and free up other soldiers for overseas duty but about half the “Zombies” ended up overseas.
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