143 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND www.mbnwo.ca They advanced beyond Dunkirk and into Belgium. At Antwerp, they stopped to rest and regroup, then went to Tilburg in holland, where they were stationed for a time. One night, near Christmas, while at Tilburg, they had a very close call. Fred and some of his troopmates, were staying with a Dutch family, sleeping in their barn. The kind family has invited them for supper, feeding them “potatoes, more potatoes, and fruit of some kind. We really pigged out,” as Fred said. When they returned to the barn, Fred and another fellow were on guard duty. They later heard a German V-1 flying bomb coming in low, in their direction. This was also called a “buzz bomb” or “Doodlebug” by the allies and was an early cruise missile. Before it exploded, Fred quickly ran to a ditch, “where I got on my elbows and knees so the vibrations wouldn’t kill me.” Fortunately, the bomb exploded in a small open area, not hurting anyone. While outside of Tilburg, they came across an abandoned German prison camp, the Herzogenbusch Concentration Camp. They saw evidence of where they gassed prisoners had their heads and/or feet cut off to fit into the ovens. They also saw the scaffold where prisoners were hung until they died. Outside the camp was a pit where more than 1,500 bodies had been buried. They advanced further up into Germany, to the Siegfried Line, to Wilhelmshaven, when the war was declared over. They stayed there, securing the area, until they were relieved by occupation forces. Fred had the brilliant idea that if he joined the Provost Corps, he’d get to return to Canada in the summer, thus avoiding the punishing conditions of winter travel by boat. But it ended up that he came back in January 1946, and again was “sick as a dog, all the way across.” Prior to returning to Canada, their original battery group had a celebratory party. Fred had a big Harley Davidson motorcycle with “Provost Corps” on the front, white belt, white bars, and a big windshield that he rode to the party. There was nothing to eat, but plenty to drink. He doesn’t remember returning to camp that night. The fellow who called out his name to get on a train to Liverpool for the return trip to Canada was Ernie Delmage, from Minnedosa. They landed in Halifax and took a train to Winnipeg. Fred took a bus to Kelwood, then walked eight miles home in January. His parents met him two miles from home. That winter, Fred and brother Floyd got work at a lumber camp at National Mills, northwest of Mafeking. After he tried farming with his two brothers for a while in Glencairn, they separated and went their own ways. In October, Fred came to Minnedosa and got a job driving taxi for Harold Boleen, then for Lefty Funnell for ten years. He married Florence Robinson in September 1948, who was a local telephone operator, and they stayed in Minnedosa for the rest of their lives. Fred also managed an Esso service station, worked for the Co-op Lumber Yard in Minnedosa, then, until his retirement in 1990, with North American Lumber. Florence and Fred had five sons: Ivan, Jim, Murray, Bryan, and Bruce. Sadly, Bryan and Bruce died quite young. In retirement, they enjoyed travelling, walking, and cross-country skiing. He was a lifetime member of The Royal Canadian Legion Minnedosa Branch 134. Fred passed away in 2007. Fred received the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and Clasp, Defence Medal, France and Germany Star, 19391945 Star, and War Medal 1939-1945. HAYWOOD, Frederick R. “Fred” {continued}
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