The Ceasefire Order is Issued

Heroes Remember

The Ceasefire Order is Issued

Transcript

Let me tell you something about Winston Churchill. They make a lot of fun of him but he said one time that set the theme of the whole war, he said, “The Germans know they must defeat us here in these Islands or lose the war because if they do not beat us we are going to beat them!” And that was easy enough. We had gone through Holland and then we were up in Germany; we had captured Weener and Bunde, we were outside of Emden when on the 4th of May a civilian asked to come in through the Chaudière’s Regiment’s outpost, he said he had been sent from Orrick to talk surrender. So these talks were going on and we got two very strange messages. One of them said, now how did that go? It said, “Hold all present positions but take no offensive action.” We used to say, “What the heck does that mean?” And then came the order, “All artillery units will cease fire, empty guns and stand down.” That was dumbfounding because that meant that the guns were no longer needed and obviously the war was over and the war ended on the 5th of May, three days before the war ended anywhere else, two million Germans surrendered in Northwest Europe. But what really brought it through to me that the war had ended was the next day I was taking the wireless vehicle down to divisional headquarters. Nobody was on the road except a few displaced persons when I met an entire German infantry division, fully armed coming in to the surrender point to lay down their weapons. Well, I knew damn well that there would be a hot head that would say here’s our chance to take another one with him but, you know, I drove past eight thousand armed Germans and not a threat was made and the day before we were being paid to kill each other on site. And that really meant the war was over, for me that was how it ended.

Description

Mr. Barr recalls the final days of the war and witnesses the mass surrender of German soldiers.

Vernon Barr

Mr. Vernon Barr was born November 11, 1921 in Cobourg, New Brunswick. Growing up in the shadows of the great war, Mr. Barr witnessed the return of Veterans and this left a lasting impression on him. Later in life when war was again declared, he volunteered to serve and became part of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division as a signals/wireless operator holding rank of corporal. Mr. Barr travelled overseas on the O’Ryan and was part of D- Day and the Battle of Normandy. He remains very proud of his service during the Second World War. Postwar and back in Canada, Mr. Barr and his family moved to Wolfville, Nova Scotia where he resides today.

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