157 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND www.mbnwo.ca Many years later, Hayward met this former Nursing Sister on a street in Winnipeg. When he was discharged from hospital, with a lot of others, they were sent to a place called Chan’ – Chano. It was a noted place in all Europe with a cure for liver and heart disease. From there, he was sent to #5 Canadian Army Troops workshop in Rimini. This was like a factory on wheels, early morning to sundown, seven days a week, keeping things moving, replacing motors, fixing trucks (all assembly work), replacing parts with snow on the ground, working outside. Fire in an old barrel kept their trenches warm. Two men worked as a team. When the war was over in Italy, they were to move up into Europe. They were loaded up and ready to go when he had to meet up with an accident – of all times for this to happen – the war was over, and they were leaving Italy. He was looking for a piece of twine to tie up his bed roll with, when he spied a web strap with a buckle on the end. But it was riveted to a piece of metal. So, he put his foot on the metal and gave a big tug. The rivet let go and the buckle hit him in square in the eye. His friend took over him over to their M.O. who sent him down the road to a British hospital where they dressed it up but wouldn’t let him go. So, two weeks in hospital and four months later, he went back to England. In these four months, they took all the tradesmen they had in hospitals and made a mobile unit out of them, and they went all over Italy to Canadian equipment compounds. Their job was to make as many vehicles roadworthy as quickly as possible to move out of Italy. They didn’t drive them, so Hayward didn’t really know how they went. The war was all over in Europe. It seemed like an endless job. There were acres and acres of equipment. Anyway, they left for England in September 1945. When he got back to England, they went to a place called Clappen Junction. When the allies left Italy no more mail was sent to Italy, so they kept it all back in England. Each of them had mail tied up with binder twine – armfuls of it. When he hit his eye, they sent a telegram home to the folks that he was wounded and couldn’t write because there was no mail leaving Italy, so they were quite worried back home. This is about the end of Hayward’s war years. With all the units he was with and wherever he was, he was always proud to be Canadian. They were all accepted by all the poor peasant people of Italy (they had dirt floors), and many fond memories lingered of the comradeship they shared with their army comrades. At Christmas, Hayward heard from a few of their unit mechanics, some in BC, some in Ontario. While in Naples, he saw Mount Vesuvius erupt. He was down in the catacombs under Rome and all through the Vatican, even right up in the ball at the top of the cross. He had Christmas dinner in Hove, England, and left for home soon after aboard the Scythia and arrived home in January 1946. He got his discharge in February as a Private and went back to farming in the Clanwilliam area. He received the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and Clasp, Italy Star, 1939-1945 Star, and War Medal 1939-1945. Hayward was a life member of The Royal Canadian Legion Minnedosa Branch 138 and had been since the end of the war. He was also involved in Church work. On July 29, 1978, he married Vera Hopkins. They lived in Minnedosa in the house he had built for his widowed mother. He lived with her until she passed away, and he and Vera farmed from town. Vera passed away on July 13, 2009, and Hayward on May 5, 2011. HOPKINS, Hayward Charles (continued)
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