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Mr. Kerr
telephoned us in Amsterdam on May 1st, 2005.
We were just about to leave for Canada.
Mr. Kerr said: "I heard that you are interviewing veterans.
... please, you are welcome to interview me too ..
Mr. Kerr died in June 2005.
Todays performance is a tribute to you. |
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The story
of Don Clarke Kerr
Don Clarke Kerr , Gunner in the artillery.
The First division, 2nd brigade
Liberator of the Netherlands
I sort of forgot it. But I
think it was 70th field battery. If I am wrong about that
....it wouldn’t really matter. What I remember about
Holland....I have to think for a minute. My memory isn’t so
good and it has been a long time. I sort of....never talk
about the war. When we came back from the war there were so
many stories to tell. But I never really bothered to talk
about it you know. We were mainly in Italy, Sicily, and then
we came up to Holland. They sent all the Canadians into
Holland so they could all fight together. Wasn’t too long
before the end of the war. We weren’t there for a real long
time you know. I came to Holland in 1944 and it was winter
time. We went to Apeldoorn, I’m pretty sure of that!
I remember one dead soldier...a German soldier laying on the
street. An eldery woman was walking by, and crossed her
self. I thought it was funny that they hadn’t picked up the
soldier. I guess they never had the time yet...you know....
I’ve seen a lot of dead people for sure... but that one sort
of stuck on my mind. I felt so sorry for that old lady that
had to go by. There was a river. It was very flat river. You
know the ground isn’t very much higher then the river banks.
We were up there and the infantry was crossing and I was
laying telephone lines at the time. They were shooting smoke
shells around us.
I laid telephone lines from the guns up to the front line
and kept moving with the infantry. So when the guns moved
up, the telephone lines were there for them you know. At
that time I was doing that. Before, I was on the guns for a
long time. |
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