I
went overseas with the Saskatoon Light Infantry. I was over in Scotland and
England. We went to Sicily and Italy with them in 1943; I was with them till
December 25, 1944. I was captured in northern Italy but I was with the reconnaissance
that time. I was with SLR when I got wounded in Italy and I was in the hospital
for a month. So when I came back I got transferred to another reconnaissance
outfit. I was a gunner in SLR and when I was transferred I was mostly sent out
scouting behind the lines. I ran out of luck and got captured. I was in a prison
camp for a period of approximately four months. In February we got taken out
from the prison camps on a death march, all of us that were able to walk. While
we were walking my friend (from the prison camp) and I got away. He was a Mongolian
from Siberia. They called it a death march, we didn't know where we were going
but while we were walking we took off. We thought we might get killed anyway
we might as well take a chance. So we got away, it was snowing and storming
at that time. I didn't have warm clothes, not even a hat. My friend had pretty
warm clothing, sheepskin you know how the Russian's wear it. We got along and
we had to beg for food from farmers, the German farmers gave us food, it was
near the end of the war anyway. It was 1945 already and we traveled for about
two months, we slept in the snow, we slept wherever there was shelter. We ended
up meeting these Americans in April sometime; we had a pretty rough time going
through though because we were mixed with Germans by that time. We got into
this town early in the morning and all these people had white flags in their
windows, surrendering I guess. By 11 o'clock the thing was over, the Americans
had the town surrounded, but they were shooting at us these Americans, because
we were mixed with the Germans. I could hardly walk my legs were swelling up
from walking and the cold. The Americans interviewed me, because I was cold
and my friend had changed jackets with me so they thought that I was Russian.
My friend didn't speak any English but we got along. They asked me a bunch of
questions and I told them if I was Russian I wouldn't be speaking any English.
They told me to wait because there was other people coming in with food and
stuff. So I stayed but I was hungry, and I could hear a chicken somewhere. I
found seven eggs, so I gathered wood and I made fire. I went around and I found
a German pan, and I found some butter that they left and I cooked the eggs I
found. I ate them all I was so hungry. My friend had left I didn't know where
he was. Turns out that he was in the bar, and the next morning they found him
poisoned. I never seen my friend since, I didn't even know his name. The next
day these Americans started coming in, they set up big tents, showers and everything.
I hadn't changed clothes in about four or five months and I was all lousy. They
let me shower. They never did ask me any questions about where I was from or
anything. Wherever they went I went with them. This one time they piled on a
truck so I got on too. We started early in the morning; I didn't know where
they were going I just went with them because I was all alone. We traveled all
morning until about two or three in the afternoon. We went to an airport and
they started to get into this plane so I followed them. I thought they would
be going back to the States or something. I didn't speak much English and I
couldn't write. We traveled for a while that was my first time on a plane, it
was a big transport plane. I looked down and I seen mountains and I could see
smoke, they were shooting at us. We landed in Amsterdam, Holland. Everyone started
lining up in rows, and these guys asked me, "What part of America are you
from?" I told them I didn't come from America; they asked me what I was
doing there then. I told them I was with the Canadian Army and that I was captured
in Northern Italy. I told them that nobody had asked me where I was from. They
said that they would ship me back to England with a couple of other guys. Near
London there was a big Canadian base, so I went there. So anyway that's what
happened.
