LEST WE FORGET 109 HANDFORD, Mervin Campbell (continued) It was now time to set up our headquarters because this is where we started our duty as occupation troops. It’s funny because the big buildings where we originally set up our barracks was not bombed flat, whereas all other building in Emden were flattened to the ground. It wasn’t until I got up on top of the roof and saw a red cross painted on the roof, did I realize it had been a hospital. I still can’t figure out how they could bomb so accurately so as not to hit that building. Maybe, I thought, God had something to do with why it was spared, but one will never know why. I know that a young soldier like me, only nineteen years old, knew that it was a miracle. Once again, it was off to Great Britain for a nine-day leave. It was back to good, old bonny Scotland for a welldeserved rest and holiday.We had a great nine-day leave before we returned to Emden, Germany for our occupation duties, making sure the German people stayed in certain zones for rationing purposes and keeping them under tight security for their own protection. The German people, on the whole, were very nice. They didn’t want a war any more that we did, but they were forced into it by Hitler and his followers. There was one German soldier who was put on trial for war crimes. His charge was that his troops were responsible for the cold-blooded murder of thirteen Winnipeg rifle soldiers. His name was General Kurt Meyer. We used to take him back and forth to his trial until the final day when he was charged and sentenced to die. He was allowed to answer in his German tongue because that was his native language, and he was on trial for his life. He was found guilty and given the death penalty. On the eve of his execution, we had to go around and check citizens in Emden. We went in pairs and checked door to door to see if everything was “A” O.K. On one door that we knocked on, the man said to come in.When we entered the house, there hanging on the wall was a 1938 Wheat Pool calendar. I asked them where they got the calendar, and they told me that they used to live in Wolseley, Saskatchewan where they farmed. They went back to Germany with their family for a visit. Because the German government knew that there was a likelihood of a war breaking out, they would not let them return to Saskatchewan. I knew some of the people they knew around Indian Head and Qu’Appelle where I grew up and went to school. I had a good talk with them, and I enjoyed the conversation very much, so you can see it’s a big world but a small one when it comes to some things. Anyway, Kurt Meyer was given life in prison where he spent some of his prison time in New Brunswick. Then he returned to Germany where I understand he passed away. In May 1946, we got ready to go back to England and then on back home to Canada. We left Germany and landed in England where we stayed for a few days we boarded the Ile de France for Canada. We sailed out of Portsmouth, England and landed in Halifax five or six days later where we boarded the train for Ontario and Regina, Saskatchewan. We had another leave before we departed for Regina. I got my discharge on June 3, 1946, and I turned 21 years old on June 27. We went down to the clothing store in Regina and got all decked out in civilian clothes. It was so funny wearing army clothes and to be back in ‘civies’. We were very proud of our new clothes, and I felt like a new man. Mervin stayed in Regina for a few days before going home to Qu’Appelle where he settled down. He got a job with a construction company digging dug-outs for the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration. They were large dugouts for the water supply for cattle and horses. The name of the man he worked for was Pete Campbell from Qu’Appelle. He was a good man to work for. Mervin also did custom combining in Texas. Upon returning to Canada, he started working for a man named Bob Moore. he drove a big caterpillar with a cutting brush. This turned out to be work that Mervin enjoyed very much. He did that type of work for about four years and also worked for farmers. Mervin passed away on February 19, 2014. ■
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM0NTk1OA==