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Students in uniform at Government School
19. Students in uniform at Government School
 The
semi-military nature of the Government School—which characterized
its discipline, evident in the marching, drill work and flag raising
and other ceremonies—was typical of many Indian boarding school
at the turn of the century. This aspect of school life had an unexpected
payoff for many students who later joined the army:
It was just routine to me then, that’s why I was so good
at the close order drill and the D.I.’s The [drill instructors)
asked me, “Why are you so good at it?” Here are all
these other recruits, they are just marching all over the field,
running into each other and here I was standing there and they
told me. “Go sit down. You know more about it than they do
here.” So, here I set, watching them. I was the only one
of them that had that kind of instruction, and I didn’t have
no trouble with it. (Val Norman)
Girls, too, found their training useful in the service:
That Coach Wilson, he taught us how to drill and everything,
we were all well versed in the commands. It came in handy. I never
knew I’d use it, but see, I spent two years in the army as
a WAC and that really helped! ( Margaret Headly)
When a lot of Indian boys went into the service, a lot of
them didn’t have problems because they knew all those formations,
a lot of them didn’t even stay privates very long. (Caroline
Goggles)
Chris Goggles who marched at St. Michael’s every morning recalled
that his school also hired disciplinarians from WWI. By the time
Chris got to the Government School, the drills had ended. But looking
back, his most vivid memory of St. Michael’s was of lining
up each morning for the daily dose of cod liver oil.
Cod liver oil! That’s the reason why they had all these
formations. See, you’d stand out there in formation and they’d
come by there and they’d give you a teaspoon and then you’d
go right in there to breakfast!
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