A Murder in Cold Blood

Heroes Remember

A Murder in Cold Blood

Transcript

Well, we spent five horrible days in these little cattle cars and the only toilet facilities was an open bucket in the middle of the car and so those who were in the middle of the car, they were constantly sprayed by the contents so it was a stinking lousy mess . for five whole days We had no idea where our destination was. But the second day out when we made a stop, a shot rang out, not in our car but in the car behind us and what had happened, a young French lad had put his hand on the window to look out and the German guard going by shot at him and the bullet pierced his hand. Then he opens up the door, and this is all related to us by the boys, our boys who were in that car. Then he said, "Anybody get hurt?" One of our boys thought they were doing the right thing, he said, "Yeah, this young French lad was hurt." So the guard ordered him out of the car, down the embankment and as he walked down the embankment, this guard shot him in the back, killed this little kid. But he wasn't dead, he was still convulsing and then another German officer came up and pumped several shells in the back of his head. Then they took two of our boys, they dug a shallow grave and they buried the young kid and then took off. And that's another thing that troubled us emotionally because the mother of that young boy will never ever know what happened to him. He was murdered in cold blood by these savage beasts and they were actually laughing, laughing among themselves when this whole episode took place. They thought it was a big joke.

Description

Travelling five long days to another camp by cattle car, Mr. Carter-Edwards recalls an incident of cold blooded murder of a young french lad.

Ed Carter-Edwards

Edward (Ed) Carter-Edwards was born on April 2, 1923, in Montréal, Quebec, and was raised in Hamilton, Ontario. He enlisted in August 1942, and then joined 427 (Lion) Squadron, 6 Royal Canadian Air Force Group, in Leeming, England. He was a wireless operator air gunner and completed 21 successful missions in a Halifax bomber. On his 22nd mission, Mr. Carter-Edwards was shot down near Paris. He was betrayed to the Gestapo by a collaborator, threatened with execution and forced into the Fresnes prison, near Paris. He spent five weeks in the prison in 1944 followed by a five-day trip in a French cattle car to the notorious Buchenwald concentration camp. He was there for three and a half months as one of 26 Canadians - 168 allied airmen in all. He was forced to participate in two death marches shortly before the end of the war. Once released from service and safely back home, Mr. Carter-Edwards returned to Hamilton and worked at the appliance manufacturer Westinghouse. He was married in 1946, and he and his wife raised three children.

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