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Close Call - Dud Mortar

Heroes Remember

Close Call - Dud Mortar

Transcript
Interviewer: Did you ever have a close call yourself? Oh yeah. Just only once but a mortar hit the barrel of the bren and come, the butt came up and hit me in the chin and knocked me out, but the mortar didn't explode. And we had a Sergeant from Glacebay, yeah, Barry was his name, and he come walking by and he said "What's the matter with you?" and I, "Oh nothing now" and I says "That thing there just, just about got me". And he'd give it a kick, well you know it didn't explode again. So I said "It must be really dead or you would be." "Oh," he said "it's probably no good anyway. It was a Chinese, you know "Charlies" had dropped it." But I just about, I just about died of fright when he kicked it, I thought, well this is the end for sure. No I, other then that I've never had a close call I don't think, not that I'm aware of anyway.
Description

Mr. Reitsma recalls a close call in which his gun was hit by a mortar.

Stuart Reitsma

Mr. Stuart Reitsma was born into a military family in Lacombe, Alberta, in 1928. His father served in the Second World War , and two of his brothers also served in Korea. Before joining the service in 1950, Mr. Reitsma worked with the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Canadian National Railway (CNR). While participating in a CNR strike in Vancouver a fight broke out. Mr. Reitsma and a friend enlisted the next day, deciding if they were going to fight, they'd sooner do it in the Army. Soon after completing training, Mr. Reitsma was shipped overseas to Korea. During his year there Mr. Reitsma survived continued heavy action at the front line, a fact he attributes to the excellent training he had received. Returning to Canada after his tour ended, Mr. Reitsma received his discharge in August of 1952. He returned to work with CNR before accepting a position with Alberta Government Telephone which he held for 26 years before retirement.

Meta Data
Medium:
Video
Owner:
Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:
01:11
Person Interviewed:
Stuart Reitsma
War, Conflict or Mission:
Korean War
Branch:
Army
Units/Ship:
2nd Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry
Occupation:
Machine Gunner

Copyright / Permission to Reproduce

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