So Very Grateful
Heroes Remember
So Very Grateful
If you’re in a unit that you join up with
you develop a friendship towards,
you’ll pick out, you know, naturally bond
with a couple of buddies,
like they’re your friends and
you get to be close.
Then as war goes along some guy
might get wounded, well so what,
he gets wounded it’s alright you know.
And you go along maybe a month or so and
jeez old Kelly is not around anymore,
then you start taking things
a little more serious,
this game is not just, you know.
Things are going to get serious and
when once, I was three years there,
I was working more or less as a
you might say as a labourer.
We were working all the time and then
after six months they’d bring you in and
they’d put you on courses and
that and then out you go again.
And they’d put you on concrete or
whatever it was, you’re mixing stuff and
that was the life of, to us.
If you were in the infantry now you
would be training doing infantry marching and
you would be doing different training courses and
stuff like that.
But as engineers you are more or less tradesman.
In this trade it was pretty dangerous
at times, you know. I call it fate.
Other people, whatever they might call it,
you’re just lucky.
But to me I think at times, you know,
you will be sitting in the chair and,
“By God, I’m pretty lucky I’m here.”
More so, didn’t bother me too much
at the first but as the years come by and
I come back and I went to that cemetery
I give it a lot of thought and
I thought more about it each time
I come of how lucky I have been.
I am very happy to be here on this
occasion and I thank the government
for taking the interest in us and
making sure that we got here and
I’m quite happy, I’m at home.
Related Videos
A Tradesman During Wartime
Mr. Sommerville describes the unique role he played in working with concrete; building roads and structures for the units to which they were affiliated.
Building Bridges Across the Orne River
Moving into France, Mr. Sommerville describes building bridges so that the fighting could continue.
The Effects of a Mine
Mr. Sommerville speaks about a time his crew drove over a mine, inflicting wounds to his fellow crewman and recalls his sheer luck in escaping injury.
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