LEST WE FORGET 217 HARRIS, William Frederick “Reuben” WWII After training sessions at various places in Canada, Reuben Harris was sent overseas with his regiment, the South Saskatchewan Regiment in September 1943 to the military training camp at Aldershot, Hampshire, England. Reuben had been trained for the Ordnance Corps therefore being responsible for the repair of army equipment for example armoured vehicles. He had charge of an 11-ton truck and usually riding with him was Percy ‘Huddy’ Hudson, a buddy he stayed in touch with for many years. They sailed through the English Channel and landed on the Normandy beach about 4am on June 7, 1944. They had coated the engine with grease to protect it from the waters as they came up on the beach. In Reuben Harris’ words, “We moved though Caen and up the coast toward Boulogne-sur-Mer and Calais into Belgium though Ghent and Antwerp and into Holland, to Nijmegen-Oost where we stayed for the winter of 1944. We (the Allies) had to stop because the bridges had been blown up by the Germans as they retreated.” The Canadian Army was given the responsibility of holding the line along the Maas and the Nijmegen salient for about three months that winter. Then in February 1945, the Allies launched the great offensive (code named Veritable) which was designed to drive the enemy back over the Rhine and bring about final defeat. The Canadians were tasked with clearing the Reichswald Forest, breaking through the Siegfried Line, clearing the Hochwald Forest defences and closing up the Rhine. Again Reuben Harris: “In March of 1945 we started moving into Germany though the Reichswald Forest and the Hochwald Forest crossing the Rhine River near Cologne. From there we moved north on the Dutch German border up to the North Sea and finally to the port Emden, Germany. This is where we were when World War II was declared over on May 5, 1945. I spent the summer in Holland and was sent home in November 1945. I sailed back to Halifax on the Empress of Scotland, then to Regina by train and then home to the farm outside of Maryfield, Saskatchewan.” Reuben’s father, John Harris, died of cancer in December 1945 just days after his arrival home. Reuben passed away on September 20, 2010, at the age of 92.
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