The family moved to 293 Woodbine Avenue (Woodbine was renumbered in 1923 and the house would be approximately 409 Woodbine today) and Charley's father met Edith Ellen Hooper (b. 1880), the daughter of a builder, who had moved to Toronto from Somerset, England. They married on June 1, 1912 at St. John's Norway church and set up house at the newly built 312 Kenilworth Avenue. Their first child was Audrey Emma Janet, born the next year. On November 2, 1914, Edith gave birth to twin boys, Charles Maurice (Charley) and Clarence Albert, known as Albert. The couple sadly lost two children in infancy. Another daughter, Edith, was born in 1918 and the growing family soon moved to 26 Heyworth Crescent, now known as Heyworth House. The Rumleys had a big garage next to the house large enough to hold four cars and a chicken coop with fifty chickens. Uncle Clarence Rumley was a tinsmith who in the mid-1920s had his business at 396 Kingston Road, next door to Norway School.

 

In 1922 when Charley was seven years old, it was a difficult year for the family. Grandfather Charles passed away in February and on August 7, Charley's mother Edith died at the age of 41 of pulmonary tuberculosis. Her sister Agnes Clara Hooper, who had been living with the family, stepped in to help. Charles married her in 1924 and had another son in 1926, named Douglas. (Charley's Aunt Ivy also married a Hooper.) Charley and Albert attended Norway from approximately 1919 until 1927. There is no record that either of them went to school past Grade 8, although Charley eventually attended night school for two years of Rapid Calculations and Maths. Charley sang in the choir at St. John's Norway.

 

Charley and his brother had jobs as messengers for a stationery company. In 1937 Charley got a job in Norway cemetery as a clerk and gardener. Their sisters married into Norway Village families. Audrey married Roderick Adams whose family lived two doors away at 22 Heyworth. Edith married William Mort, whose family at one time had a grocery store on the corner of Heyworth and Kingston Road and was another old Norway Village family. Edith and her husband lived at 37 Heyworth. In 1940 Charley's step-mother Agnes passed away. Charles sold 26 Heyworth and he, Charley and Douglas lived with the Morts at number 37.

 

In June 1942, Charley and Albert decided to enlist in the army but Albert was rejected. Charley signed up on June 25 with the 7th Light Anti-Aircraft Battery, a Toronto-based reserve unit of the Royal Canadian Artillery. He was made a Gunner. In his paperwork, Charley indicated that after the war he didn't wish to return to his job at Norway cemetery and hoped to become an electrician.

 

A month later, on July 27, Charley was transferred to the 10th Light Anti-Aircraft regiment in Petawawa. Like the 7th, the 10th was a reserve unit, maintaining defence of Canada. In January 1943 he was transferred back to the 7th when it was posted to Debert, Nova Scotia. Debert was a staging camp for troops shipping overseas, but any possibility of the regiment sailing for Britain was dashed the longer they remained at the camp. Many soldiers completed their training at Debert, but due to delays waiting for shipping space to be available, their skills would begin to diminish. In June Charley had three weeks' leave and no doubt visited his family in Toronto. When he returned, his unit had moved to Tracadie, New Brunswick. This was on the coast, about 50 kilometres northeast of Miramichi and operated as a gunnery range. The regiment was honing its skills once again.

 

Finally in late August the regiment was sent to a transit camp in Windsor, Nova Scotia and Charley embarked for Britain on September 14, arriving on the 20th. There was a large migration of army troops from Canada, in preparation of the coming invasion of Europe. When Charley arrived, he was renamed a Private. He was attached to the 4th Canadian Infantry Reinforcement Unit, then in December was transferred to the 3rd Canadian Army Reinforcement Unit. He was awarded the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal once he completed eighteen months' service. Charley kept being bounced around from one reinforcement unit to another, while training for the invasion. He was made a Gunner again in March, then a Private again in April. He was moved out of the artillery to be an infantryman.

 

Charley became part of The Queen's Own Rifles when about to embark for France. D-Day, June 6, 1944, saw the first wave of troops hit the Normandy beaches. Charley's unit arrived three days later on June 9. On June 12, he was transferred to the North Nova Scotia Highlanders, to reinforce a regiment which had landed on D-Day at Juno Beach. The North Novas had pushed about 18 kilometres inland, with the intention of taking the town of Caen. On either side of the Canadians were the British who had advanced from Gold and Sword Beaches, which flanked Juno Beach. All of the Allied divisions encountered a formidable resistance from German panzer (tank) divisions. The Canadian objective was to capture the airfield at Carpiquet, just to the east of Caen. The Germans beat them there. For a couple of weeks, the Allied front hardly advanced. On July 5, the Canadians captured the village of Carpiquet and three days later finally took the airfield.

 

On July 18, the North Novas were part of Operation Atlantic. With tank support, the Canadians captured the industrial suburbs to the south of Caen. On July 25, Operation Spring was enacted. It was an assault on Borguebus Ridge, five kilometres south of Caen. The Germans were defending the ridge and counter attacks by their tanks caused heavy Canadian casualties. The area surrounding Caen was very flat farmland. Charley and his company were near Tilly-la-Campagne, a village about a kilometre from Borgebus. Below is from Charley's army record, the eyewitness report of one of Charley's comrades in his regiment: