You’d never survive without the comradeship.

Heroes Remember

You’d never survive without the comradeship.

Transcript

Our company was formed up in Camp Borden, like I say. A lot of them was from Nova Scotia. Lots was from Ontario. There was some from Saskatchewan, some from Ontario, New Brunswick. So it was a mixture of people from all over into our company, ‘cause our 85th and 86th bridge companies were the biggest companies in the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps. They were the biggest. What a company! I had lots of friends, very good friends - the best, oh yeah. There are a lot of guys would relate their stories about their homes and how hard it was for them and what they did and where they come from. Like I say, they didn’t care whether I was green, black, blue, they just become comrades and friends. You’d never survive without the comradeship of your fellow. Even though we might fight with each other, it was only for a few seconds. And I was fortunate. I was always one of the smallest ones, so everybody seemed to be a big brother. Isn’t that funny? Everyone seemed to be big brother because I was small. Everywhere they wanted to go, if we were in Holland if we wanted to go, you know, “Come on Mac, you’re coming with us.” Big brother. I was never afraid because I always knew I had somebody there to look after me, really. The funny thing of it is there was a chap in our company, he had the same last name as me - Berry, B E R R Y. And he was from Saint John, New Brunswick. He was a Provo, he was a police. Every night when I go out he’d say, “Where the hell do you think your going, Berry?” I would say, “Oh, I’m just going so and so.” “Well you look after yourself and don’t you get in no damn trouble,” he’d say to me. And it was almost like a father like, a fatherly type. And I, Gordon, that’s his name, Gordon Berry. I lost contact with him. And then in Winnipeg when I rejoined again, you know, this big heavy guy come up and I said, “Where you from?” He said, “New Brunswick.” I said, “What’s your name?” He said, “Doug Berry.” I said, “Doug Berry. I used to know a guy by the name of Berry.” He said, “Yeah, what was he with?” I said, “86th Bridge Company.” He said, “That was my Dad.” I said, “You’re kidding me.” He said, “Nope, that was my Dad.” So he wrote home to his father and told him, “Jeez, I found Mac Berry.” So this, his son, always says to me, “Hi Dad!” A small world, eh?

Description

Mr. Berry describes the bonding and comradeship in his Company, and how in later years he was able to reestablish contact with a wartime pal.

Irving Malcolm Berry

Irving Berry was born on March 10, 1924 in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. He attended South End School, but left school early to find work. At the time that war broke out, he was working as a porter for the bus company, earning $3.50 per day. Mr. Berry was aware that the recruiting officer in Halifax was prejudiced against blacks, but managed to successfully enlist. His training took place in Camp Borden, and then he shipped overseas, joining the 86th Bridging Company, Royal Canadian Army Service Corps. Mr. Berry’s active service in France began twenty-one days after the D-Day invasion. His company’s responsibility was to deliver bridge building components to the Front, and if needed, assist in the actual construction of new bridges. Three major areas of activity were the Seine, Arnheim, and the Rhine. Mr. Berry left the Armed Forces after the war, but reenlisted in the RCASC in1952. He retired with the rank of Sergeant in 1974.

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