With the advent of spring, we broke loose

Mr Bill McCusker - WWII Veteran from Saskatoon
Armoured Corps - 18th Armoured Car Regiment
(reinforcement for the Twelfth Manitoba Dragoons)

Liberator of the Netherlands

Bill said: I enlisted in the Candian Army in June of 1943 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, at the age of 18. After a brief preliminary stay at the 12th District Depot in Regina, I was assigned to the Dundurn, Saskatchewan Military Camp (an armoured corps training centre) in August 1943. I took several weeks of Basic Training there. Following this training I was assigned to advanced training as a Wireless Radio Operator. Upon completion of my Wireless Course in the winter of 1943-44, I proceeded to Windsor, Nova Scotia, a holding unit for overseas dispatch. In March of 1944 I boarded the former French luxury liner "Ile de France" in Halifax. Together with hundreds of other Canadian servicemen, we made an eight day Atlantic crossing landing at Greenoch, Scotland. From Greenoch, I proceeded by train to Woking England (south of London). Woking was an advanced training centre and holding unit for reinforcements to be assigned to Canadian Regiments as required.  My four months' stay there was punctuated by further wireless training. There are interesting memories of the V1 and V2 bombs which Hitler's Regime had developed to try and force the surrender of Britain. I also witnessed the development of Jet Planes which were "top secret" at that time. It was amazing to watch these planes flashing through the sky, on test runs at 600 miles per hour when all we had ever seen were planes in the 300 miles per hour range. We also saw the huge armadas of allied bombers which literally filled the sky heading out to bomb Germany. In early August 1944, I was dispatched to France as a reinforcement for the Twelfth Manitoba Dragoons (18th Canadian Armoured Car Regiment). The regiment had already proceeded up the Normandy coast and were now at Antwerp, close to the border of Holland. It was at this point I reached what was to be my regiment. An armoured car regiment consisted of Staghound armoured cars with a crew of 5 and scout cars with a crew of 2. In the Staghound were a driver, co-driver, gunner, wireless operator and crew commander. Staghounds were not unlike a tank but were on rubber tires, making them considerably more mobile. The plan of allied high command was to send the British and Americans on toward Germany. The Canadians were assigned to push up through Holland and free the starving country. Hitler was taking available food and resources to feed his already overdrained armies. Due to the bitter winter, the Canadian army was unable to make a breakthrough until spring and it was an engagement of short skirmishes and static guarding the rivers and canals with the German army across the way. With the advent of spring, we broke loose and the operation of freeing the Netherlands was on. As an armoured car unit, our job was to move ahead and scout for the enemy. As a radio operator I was up bright and early and the first one to the armoured car. We had to keep constant contact with the Regimental Commander car. First thing every morning his operator would send out a signal and all the other operators had to tune their sets until we had a satisfactory communication with him. When H.Q. was satisfied with our signal I locked in on it. We used both "R" talk (vocal conversation) and morse code. My job also included the loading of the 37 millimeter gun which protruded from the turret. This was in the spring of 1945 and the war had taken a toll on the German Army. They put up brief resistance but soon were basically in full retreat. Consequently our mobile armoured car regiment began to reconnoiter furter ahead. We would frequently be the first allied soldiers the citizens had seen after years of brutal Nazi occupation.Needless to say we were greeted with overwhelming enthusiasm as we entered their towns.  On May 8th, 1945, the German army capitulated and Victory in Europe was complete. The process of rehabilitating the Netherlands began with Canada taking a huge part in the operation.

The Dutch people have never forgotten the part Canadians played in attaining their freedom and an everlasting bond has developed between our two countries. Following VE Day, the process of repatriation back to Canada began. Your turn came up in the order of when you arrived overseas. The Army set up an educational facility for the use of those who were waiting to go home. I took advantage of this and took several subjects of my grade 12, until my turn came up. I returned to Canada via the Queen Elizabeth and landed in New York and from there proceeded home by train.

Courtesy of the Dominion Institute, Toronto ON
www.thememoryproject.com