Shortly afterwards his family moved near Porquis Junction and this is where Cosens remained until he left school at 17 and went to work as a section hand on the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway.

A year after taking this job, the Second World War broke out and Aubrey attempted to join the RCAF and was rejected for being too young.

He was 23 years old and a sergeant in The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada[2] during his involvement as a Canadian Army soldier in the Second World War.

On the night of 25–26 February 1945 at Mooshof near Uedem, Germany, B and D Coys of The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada led a series of attacks on German strongholds.

[4] Little ships, the ones named for foot sloggers: Horatius, Alvin York, Swamp Fox, the Rog herself, bless her heart, Colonel Bowie, Devereux, Vercingetorix, Sandino, Aubrey Cousens, Kamehameha, Audie Murphy, Xenophon, Aguinaldo --Grave/memorial at Buried at Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery in the Netherlands.