93 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND www.mbnwo.ca When they got that big tent in Broom Park, they were going on a twenty-mile route march. They were just ready to go on parade when Walter thought he heard someone asking if he could use their barber. Their captain said, “We don’t have a barber”. “Yes, Sir, we do,” said one of their platoon, “it’s Imlah.” The captain called Walter out and asked him if he would stay in camp that day and cut hair. A Major in A Company and all his men had to have their hair cut by the next morning. Walter said he would do it and as he turned to leave, his Captain called him back and said, “You know, Imlah, I’m not going to ask you what you can do anymore. I’ll just ask you what you can’t do. I think the answer will be much shorter. You cook, wash clothes, darn socks, cut hair, press uniforms,” and he shrugged his shoulders and continued, “and at five hundred yards you put five bullseyes with five shots”. Then he just laughed and proceeded with the route march. From Broom Park, they were put on water landing craft and went to Normandy. They did not even have to get their feet wet because there was a make shift walk or dock. They walked on the beach with dry feet thanks to the 3rd Division and others who secured the beach head. They walked from there to Carpiquet just out of Caen, France. They were there for quite some time when one morning, row upon row of their bombers came just at break of dawn bombing Caen. They moved through Caen to a place called St. Andre Serron. After being there about a week and being shelled a plenty, he was sent to the hospital. After a couple of weeks, he returned to the front lines. When he returned to the orchard where their unit had been it had been shelled so badly, it looked like a plowed field. They kept advancing. The way they advanced was; the scouts would be divided and they took turns scouting and leading the rest of the men in. He remembered being lead scout three times. “You’d walk down the road about three hundred yards ahead of the next man! I remember looking hard for signs of the enemy and all the time wondering when I was going to step on a mine or be shot between the eyes”. Some of the scouts got cut off from the rest of the company by the enemy but managed to get out with the help from the French. Once two scouts took all the Germans in the town prisoner and locked them in the town jail, again with the help from the French people. When they got near Falaise, they were pinned down by snipers and were being shelled by the Germans.Walter was trying to dig in with that little trench tool that was next to useless for the ground was very hard. Some comrades signalled him to come to where they were. They were other scouts and snipers. Two of the snipers were trying to spot the German snipers. These guys had found a German V shaped trench with a real good top on it. They figured it would take a bomb to dent that top. Before he got there the corporal had found a five gallon can of Calvados. He said “give me your cup. I’ll give you a shot of this stuff. It’ll perk you up”.Walter passed him his cup and he poured about half an inch. He took a sip and handed it back to him saying the stuff was poison and should be poured out. There were five of them jammed into that slit trench. A fellow from another company asked if he could squeeze in, too. He squeezed in but stood his rifle right beside him. Just then a shell hit close to this fellow. The blast blew the wood right off his rifle. He was not hurt. Right then, Walter passed his cup to the Corporal and said, “Give me a drink of that stuff. I might as well die from poison as get blown up.” He had a couple of good slugs. The shells were still coming. The corporal said to Walter, “Let’s go up there and see what the hell’s holding us up”. Out they got and started walking right down the road to Falaise. There were company men in the ditches along the road who kept telling them to get down, that they were crazy walking down that road. There was a bridge up ahead of them and what looked like a gun on the other end. They could not see any movement and both men were carrying Bren guns.Walter was walking, aiming that Bren gun from the hip ready to fire if anything moved. About three or four yards behind him was the corporal doing the same and covering him. Nothing moved. The gun was abandoned so they walked right into Falaise. The regiment followed them in. Of course, there were Germans in there but by dark they had captured Falaise. The corporal got a mention in dispatch. They stayed there overnight and the next morning they moved up about five miles. They figured maybe the war was over because for two days they did not get shelled. They had baths, got clean IMLAH, Walter R. (continued) (continued)
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