237 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND www.mbnwo.ca PASQUILL, Geoffrey “Geoff” WWII Geoff was born in Bolton, Lancashire, England on December 1, 1915. When World War II was declared in 1939, Geoff and his brothers Frank and Jack immediately enlisted in the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders on September 6, 1939. Geoff ’s training in England was very secretive. At Dieppe, platoon leader Pasquill was in charge of taking and securing an airfield four miles inland. They were told to expect two machine gun nests, but were met by six and were forced back to the beach. Once there, they were ordered to provide cover for the other retreating troops. They sealed the cliffs to fight off the Germans to allow the others time to get back to the boats. Once the ceasefire was given, they secreted themselves in an abandoned building hoping to be able to escape later. They realized the impossibility of this and surrendered to the Germans. Geoff helped his wounded Neepawa friend, Preston Cheetham, back to the boats for evacuation. The prisoners were not tortured, but were not treated well. They were fed only black bread for several days before being loaded onto cattle trains for the journey to the infamous Stalag 8B, one of the largest Prisoners of War camps, Upper Silesia, near Breslau. On October 8, they were shackled with ropes which were eventually replaced with more comfortable chains. Geoff was unshackled on November 20, a “date I’ll never forget”. For some reason, the Germans thought that Geoff was a “protected person”, an NCO, perhaps a medical orderly, and released him along with the other protected persons. The others remained shackled, some for over a year. Geoff was very worried about being considered a protected person, because he thought he might be required to dispense drugs or so other medical duties of which he had no knowledge. He tried through many people, prisoners in charge and the Germans to get his designation changed but was not successful. Eventually, there was a repatriation of protected and injured POWs, and Geoff ’s name was on the list. He returned to England and had quite a time convincing authorities in England that there was nothing wrong with him. Once repatriated, one was not expected to go back to the theatre of war, and Geoff was sent home. He went on a speaking tour around Manitoba for the Sixth Victory Loans Campaign as an “overseas Armed Forces Speaker”. The purpose of these tours was to raise money for the war effort, and given Geoff ’s experience and oratorical ability, no doubt he was successful. Geoff didn’t talk very often about his experience at Dieppe, but he would not eat black bread nor would he eat margarine. He said the margarine they got was so bad that he could not stomach the thought of eating it. Another thing he said was that if it hadn’t been for the packages received from the Red Cross, they would not have survived. Corporal Geoff Pasquill was discharged in Winnipeg on July 7, 1944. He was married to Elsie Korstrom. He was a member of The Royal Canadian Legion Neepawa Branch 23. Geoff passed away on February 1, 1984.
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