109 The Royal Canadian Legion www.mbnwo.legion.ca JONES, Raymond William “Bill” . . . continued The prisoners were held there for some time. The only food was cabbage soup. Their captors had the same fare. Before shipping the prisoners out, the Germans promised soup with meat in it as well as cabbage. Sure enough, the next day, there was meat in it all right. On filing the pot for their ration, they saw it contained the entire head of a cow – horns, hide, and all. The prisoners were loaded into box cars and shipped through the Brenner Pass. They were given a piece of black bread, but no water for two days. They arrived at Stalag 7A Mooseburg, Germany on December 25, 1944. This was a Christmas not to be forgotten. Every Saturday and Sunday, the RAF and American Airforce would bomb Munich, and the following five days the prisoners were taken in to clean up, leaving Stalag at eight o’clock at night. Some of the Red Cross parcels came through, and the men bartered with the German Regular Force guards. They would trade cigarettes and chocolate for bread. This bread was in long, thin loaves with a big percentage of saw dust in it. The men cut the loaves in half and shoved it down their pantlegs and up their sleeves. One day, a group of the elite SS Troops caught the soldiers trading with the prisoners. These soldiers, as an example, were shot immediately right in front of the prisoners. A week before the war ended, the Germans marched the prisoners out of Stalag prison and began a march to the Bavarian Alps where they were to be hidden. During this march, the prisoners were liberated by the American troops. They gave the men chocolate bars and oranges! What a treat after black bread and cabbage soup! The next day, the Canadians were flown in C47 transports to a camp just outside of Reims, France. That evening, the boys were treated to a fried chicken dinner. Not being used to the rich food, many of them became ill. Bill and his friend, Frank Sitko, were outside being sick when an announcement came over the loudspeaker. The first 500 men to the front gate would be flown back to England first thing in the morning.You bet that Bill and Frank were two of the 500 loaded into the Lancaster Bombers that flew them to England. Bill spent two days in hospital then was given a week’s leave which he spent visiting his mother’s sister, Connie. On returning from leave, Bill was sent to work in the army post office at Farnborough. It was there that Bill met Alvin Hart, who invited him home to meet his bride, José, and her family in Brighton. Bill returned to Canada in December 1945. He worked with Alf Goddard doing cement work and painting. In the spring of 1946, he went to work as a section man on the C.P.R. line. On February 14, 1947, Bill went to work for J.P. Lawrie. His first job was to unload three cars of coal and two cars of cordwood. In 1952, Angus took over the management of the store from his father. Bill continued to work for A.C. Lawrie and as time went by, assumed more responsibility for the running of the business. In 1969, when Angus died, Bill bought the store from the estate. Over the years, Bill expanded the business. His motto was, “If we don’t have it, you don’t need it.” Bill was a member of The Royal Canadian Legion in Neepawa, Manitoba for 25 years. He passed away on July 4, 2012 and was buried in the Brookdale Cemetery (Block-Lot 11-6N-N1/2 south side).
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