I was in England for 2 years, and then I went down to Italy, and I was in Italy for a year and a half.  I came up to Holland in February 1945.  I was in the artillery, bombardeer, I took two stripes.  I was bombardeer for five years.  You had to be able to run the gun, and take all the orders, you had to take turns sleeping, take the orders when the sergeant’s sleeping, you had to take over the gun. It was a 25-pounder, that was a gun that won the war, it was a very good gun, sort of like  a Howitzer, it could be used in hilly, mountainous country like in Italy, because it had separate ammunition and it had separate charges, you could choose charge 1, 2, 3 or supercharge.  You could pop the shells high up in the air and it would come down back to the mountain, they were 4.5 inch shells. It was pulled by a tractor truck, a gun quad, a 4-wheel drive gun-quad. 6 men on the gun.
For some regiments, our sister regiment, the 8th Field, it was self-propelled.  They were made out of tanks.  Ours was tractor-drawn. In Holland, our first gun positions were right next to the Arnhem bridge, we could see the top of the bridge. When the big push came, we went through towards Apeldoorn, we got held.  Overnight we got held up, we had a big battle in Otterloo, we lost several men there overnight, because our infantry was way ahead, everything was moving so fast. Then they almost took over our regiment, we lost 8 men that night.  They burned some of our trucks up. We went from there, after a couple of days, to get straightened out, we went to Zuiderzee, and then we went up towards Groningen, right past Groningen, and we went to Delfzijl, we were fighting in and around Delfzijl, went across the German border, just into Germany a little bit, one battery.

 
The other 2 batteries were still in Holland. I was with the 17th Field Artillery, the 11th Infantry Brigade, 5th Armoured Division. I had to drive an officer into Delfzijl, and when we got there, the Germans had left overnight, they’d gone over the estuary, and they left everything there, and the officer that I was driving had a meeting there.  And then, a couple of days after that, the war ended. Our guns were up on an embankment, and there was water all around us. Something special that happened?  Well, it was moving so fast in Holland, and it was so nice to be in Holland after being in Italy for a year and a half.  The people were different, oh, it was terrible for us down in Italy.  In Holland, we never really had a tough time of it, the people were so friendly. We stayed in a school in Winschoten, I think it was the trade-school, across from the school there was a park, and we made a bar there and there was theater there, we had dances in the theater.
It was one big celebration and it went on for days, it was great, you know… There was a lot going on when the war ended.  When we went back to Winschoten,  they were really celebrating, dancing in the streets all night.  Yes….. When the war ended, we moved into the town of Winschoten and our regiment stayed at Winschoten until after Christmas.  I had to stay there ‘till August before I could get a boat back to Canada.  And then I went back to England, and I had to stay in England, and I got married in England then, and I have an English warbride.  I got married on my birthday in Wales, my wife comes from Swansea Wales. This fall we will be married 60 years. I was 21 when I joined the army, and I was 27 when I came out. I was 26 when I had my birthday when I went back to England on the way back home. I went to Canada in February.  I was almost 6 years in the army, I spent 5 Christmas’ overseas. I came back to Canada, I had to look for a job and look for a house and it was quite a big challenge for me, you know? We had men buried in Groesbeek cemetery,  and Holten cemetery.  I have been back to Holland four times, also for the 50th and 55th anniversaries, and my wife and I stayed with a young couple in Deventer.  They were so good with banquets and dances and entertainment, it was wonderful.

This fall we will be
married 60 years