Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command of The Royal Canadian Legion www.ns.legion.ca 77 know exactly who I was, or what I was, so it all was stopped after 2 hours of chatter and screaming back and forth of several interpreters. Must say I was rather glad. (Nobby attempted to tell the Germans that he was a British officer and as such protected under the Geneva Convention. It took the Germans time to verify his story). Then by boxcar in the snow minus blankets or coat to Paduova, that is after spending the best Christmas ever on a slice of bread and water. That is not sarcasm. It was a wonderful Christmas, on the day before I was ‘stood up’. Incidentally went very, very bald over it. Ann only found out last week, so even they don’t know the half of it. Spent a lovely snowy few days in a boxcar in the Brenner Pass near Innsbruck, which was getting it from the U.S.A.A.F. Liberators (type of aircraft)! It was flat. The SS guards wanted to shoot us there. Went on to Moosburg in Austria, saw thousands of Russian soldiers dying, and the guards turning the dogs on them. There was cannibalism in that camp. Sent to Poland, got out for a few hours via a tunnel, in a French co-worker’s uniform but got beaten by the snow and dogs. Then to Morish Franbau in Silesia. That was a good camp with Red Cross parcels. Spent a spell in hospital, lungs again and bugs in the head, but the Red Cross food saved me, no doubt and I put on weight. We were shipped via our palatial boxcar in handcuffs minus boots, belts or braces (suspenders), 20 to 25 of a car, with 8 SS guards with machine guns and grenades and a barbed wire wall between us. No straw, no place to relieve yourself, but plenty of grub. Got to Brunswick south of Hamburg, (near the Elbe river) smack in the centre of several airdromes, ammo dumps, main roadways, 3 railways and a town. The R.A.F and U.S.A.A.C blew the town to hell; we lost quite a number from the overs. (5 big ones in our camp and hundreds of anti-personnel.) Rather nerve-wracking hearing our own bombs screaming down and trying to hide, and no air raid shelters for us of any kind. Red Cross food stopped, no smokes. Used to smoke the straw mattress and old much-used tealeaves. Several officers shot by the guards. The entertainment, even though conditions were so bad, was excellent. The officers put on many shows when the roof was blown off and it was terribly cold. Anyway, we ate the cat in the end, and when things were very, very black the Yanks rolled in. That’s a sight I’ll never forget! At about 8 or 8:30 a.m. on April 12th, 1945. What a day! We were flown out by Dakotas 2 weeks after. On getting captured I was just 200 lbs. On April 12th I was 130 lbs. Came down at Brussels and were treated like kings. Had an old last-war sergeant put me in the bath, washed me and then dried me. If ever a man treated me like a mother, he was it. He was blubbering like a baby. On we went to Ostend and across the channel via boat and landed in England at Tilbury docks, London, in a snowstorm. Got issued with a foot-high pile of Army forms and sent on home to Ann. That was May 1st, 1945. Have been in England roaming the countryside, getting things straight in my mind, picking up many loose ends and learning to know each other all over again. It’s been a great experience, but I’m so awfully glad to have it over. I dunno. I met good Jerries, good French and Ities and yet some bloody bad ones. They all can’t beat a Briton, so help me. Oh, we want to go home to Canada. I’ll do my share, or what I can if there’s another ‘do’. Your son, Noble. continued ... continued ...
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM0NTk1OA==