First Battlefield Experience
Heroes Remember
Transcript
I was assigned to work with the padre and what they called the
grave gang where we would, after the unit had settled in another
area, we would go back looking for the wounded and the dead and
we would be assigned to the padre. The first thing I saw
when I went there was that I didn’t see anybody being found
until I was looking over the edge of a scrub and I saw a rifle
pointing right straight at me. I was looking at it and I didn’t
realize that it was a rifle and somebody behind it pointing it
at me. But, when I really focussed on it, it turned out to
be one of, I could see the outline of one of our own
helmets, you see. So I said, well that’s one of our own
soldiers. So I went towards him and there in the grave was one
of our own men with his rifle pointing right at me and
I was looking at him, I was looking right at him and I could
see a hole right through the helmet and through his head and
his eyes were open and he was staring at me. And I’m trying to
talk to him, so I’m saying, “Are you alright, are you alright?”
and he didn’t move, you see. So then what happened, I crawled
forward and I reached the rifle and I started to pull it and it
wouldn’t move. So I went back and called the padre and the gang
over and we all went there, and it was a soldier who had been
killed there and stayed in that position. What we had to do
was put a rope around him and try to drag him out. And it
ended up with us using to carry, he had been dead for almost a
week maybe, and he had stiffened right up. To me, this is the
first time I had seen any part of any action and I think that
really set the tone for me for the rest of the war where
everything that happened to me or was happening was a movie
picture. I was looking at it but I wasn’t really part of it.
Description
Mr. Jones describes the traumatic experience of recovering a dead Canadian soldier during his first day in action in France.
Bud Jones
Bud Jones was born in Montreal, Quebec. He was a good boxer and very athletic, becoming a PT instructor before his deployment to Europe in the Second World War. He was assigned to the Royal Canadian Regiment, whose responsibility it was to eliminate German V2 rocket launching sites along the European side of the English Channel. He would see service in France, Belgium and Holland. Following his war service, Mr. Jones enlisted in the regular forces, becoming a career soldier. During that time, he served in Germany and Japan in addition to his service in Canada.
Meta Data
- Medium:
- Video
- Owner:
- Veterans Affairs Canada
- Duration:
- 2:48
- Person Interviewed:
- Bud Jones
- War, Conflict or Mission:
- Second World War
- Location/Theatre:
- France
- Branch:
- Army
- Units/Ship:
- Royal Canadian Regiment
- Rank:
- Sergeant
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