Trip Home

Heroes Remember

Trip Home

Transcript

I got back in January of ‘53. So, I ‘d Christmas on, I had Christmas dinner on the boat, the General Hugh Gaffey. We came back in Christmas of . . . so it would be Jan-, early January ‘53. Like, everybody was seasick. Most of the people were seas-. Even Merchant Navy guys were seasick. So, it was a rough trip. We had to go 500 miles further away to get away from the storm, and we were outside Hawaii. They wouldn't let us off in Hawaii because they'd never find us again, I guess. So, then we got into Seattle in January, bit after New Year's. And we took trains into Vancouver. Then they put us in different . . . said guys going to Prince Edward Island, or guys going to New Brunswick, to go into different cars. So, I just got off and my dad and my sister were there. Well, no bands, no bugle, no nothing. A free pack of cigarettes. That was it.

Description

Mr. MacBride talks about his trip home from Korea, arriving in Vancouver and meeting his family.

Albert Hugh MacBride

Mr. MacBride was born July 25, 1932, in New Westminster, British Columbia, in St. Mary's Hospital. He lived the early part of his life in White Rock and moved to New Westminister during the Second World War. When he was 18 he joined the Canadian Army enlisting with the Armoured Corps and the Lord Strathcona's Horse Regiment. Mr. MacBride did his basic training at Camp Borden in Ontario and later in Meaford, Ontario, with his tank regiment. He served as a driver/gunner with the Armoured Corps assigned to a tank. On his way to Korea, Mr. MacBride flew to Japan and after a short stay was transported to a troop ship on it's way to Pusan. In Korea, Mr. MacBride made his way to Hill 355 and served as a part of a five man tank team. In 1953 he returned home to Vancouver via Seattle, Washington, and was greeted by his father upon arrival. Mr. MacBride left the army and joined the Canadian Air Force and transferred to a career as a crash rescue firefighter for 20 years. He was married in 1954 and stationed all over bases in the Canadian Air Force from Summerside, P.E.I., to Germany. After leaving the air force he was the Provincial Fire Inspector and later the Fire Marshal for the Federal Government with Parks Canada Historical Sites and Indian Affairs for 14 years.

Meta Data