Description
Mr. Bruce describes a touching encounter with a child survivor of the Allied advance through Beny-sur-Mer, during a post-war pilgrimage.
Robert Bruce was born on February 11, 1922 at Sturgeon Valley, Saskatchewan. He was the second youngest of eight children. After they were forced to sell their farm when his mother was widowed, the community built Mr. Bruce’s family a new house across from the local school. He left school at fourteen, didn’t qualify academically for the air force, and eventually joined the army, where he served as a truck driver. Mr. Bruce served in post D-Day Europe from France to Germany. After the war, he returned to Canada and worked on the railroad.
Transcript
I had occasion to, for one person to come up to me there when we were at Beny-sur-Mer and he said, “I was six years old when they, it, when they landed here,” he said, “at Juno Beach” and he said, “I was six years old.” I said, “Do you remember that?” “Oh yeah,” he said, he remembered. Like, he could speak good English and he said, his parents of course kept him hidden away somewhere but he said, “I remember very well,” he said, “when the people landed here on..” He was six years old. You know, he gave me a big hug which was pretty good. I don't know, just, hopefully the kids today, you know, realize what happened, you know, they learn from it. That's all you can hope for, really.