 Once Nicholson finished his degree in Toronto the couple returned to Saskatchewan, where Gerald took a job as the principal at Battleford Collegiate Institute.At the time of Canada's entrance into World War II, Nicholson was serving as the principal at Battleford Collegiate.In 1940, at the age of 38, he joined the Canadian Army and was commissioned into the Prince Albert and Battleford Volunteers, a Non-Permanent Active Militia regiment.