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I was supposed to come home cause I had my 5 years overseas, I was supposed to come home and I landed in London on my way home Interviewer: When was this? Do you remember the month? Yes I sure do. Just the, the war was just ended that day! Interviewer: May, 1945. Yes and I was in front of Buckingham Palace. You’ve seen that picture, the King and Queen and Prince, they were all on the balcony. (Yes) And I was right below that when the picture was taken. Interviewer: What was the mood that day? Wonderful! That’s the only word I could say. The mood, I wore a free pair of stockings hose, feet in the stockings. I met so many patients that I had in Brügge and I met a little Frenchmen that hadn’t seen his family. And he had his hands, were like that. You’d wonder how he could ever, and he was a, a he belonged to a, what kind of regiment was he, he was in the, he was only a little bit of a thing. Paratroopers he was with and he was wounded so badly, but he was bound to stay with them and ah, I used to do his dressings. He wouldn’t let a doctor do his dressings, I would do his dressings. He’d open up his hands and say, “Ah, now, I don’t need a doctor” in French he’d say to me. And my French was terrible and he’d be “I don’t need a doctor". Its getting better, they’re getting better,” his hands from the shrapnel. And then I met him in front of Buckingham palace. Interviewer: Was there a large crowd? Oh, and everybody was so excited. He went and got his buddies over. They put their arms around me and they wanted to take me over to their mess. I didn’t go but, hahahaha. Interviewer: A lot of Canadians there? Oh yes. Interviewer: And I suppose from all over the Commonwealth? And every nationality you could think of. An awful lot of French, especially the Paratroopers. Interviewer: How long did you stay in London? I think it was only 3 or 4 days, I don’t know how many days. I saw the last, last submarine coming into the harbour when we were sailing to come back to Canada. Interviewer: Was this a surrendered German U-boat? Yeah, yeah very first one, very last one. Interviewer: What was your impression of it? Terrific, I just thought oh, thank goodness this is all over.

Description

On her way home to Canada, Ms. Dunn got caught up in the celebrations in London, England on V-E Day. She was among the thousands on hand near Buckingham Palace.

Ruth Dunn

Ruth Dunn was born in Mount Herbert, Prince Edward Island in 1903. She received her business training in Charlottetown followed by three years of nursing training in Toronto. She went on to the University of Toronto for a one year Public Health course, completed in 1927. She then spent a number of years nursing at a number of Toronto specialty clinics. Ms. Dunn joined the Canadian Army on September 2, 1939, a day after Britain declared war and almost a full week before Canada followed. She initially was assigned to the 15th Canadian General Hospital Unit located at Toronto's Grace Hospital and later renamed the Toronto Military Hospital. She worked with a staff of 60 nurses. A few months later, she joined the war in Europe, arriving in Liverpool, England in June, 1940.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 2:53
Person Interviewed:: Ruth Dunn
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Branch:: Army
Units/Ship:: 15th Canadian General Hospital Unit
Occupation:: Nurse

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Heroes Remember

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Ruth Dunn

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Heroes Remember

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