Severely Injured - No Memory

Heroes Remember

Severely Injured - No Memory

Transcript

When I went out on the Chomedy in, late in ‘42, the Chomedy never got back ‘til 1944 sometime, but certainly I was back after a year, because I, in counter action against the enemy, I had concussion and, and fractured skull and severed good disks and everything. Interviewer: Can you tell us what happened, where that happened? I really don't know too much what happened, but the DVA got all of the particulars and everything. And when I was in St. Luke's Hospital, in the Veterans ward, in Montreal, the doctor told me that the barber service . . . I was there for 16 days with my head in ice packs and I'd just go, they'd take me down for x-rays And then the doctor come and he said the barber service is coming in at 4 o'clock and you're going to see a friend at 9 o'clock in the morning. And I said "Well what did that mean?" And he told me that they were going to operate and put a plate in. So the barber service never come in, and the next morning was more x-rays. And then they ask me where, where my home was and I told them. They wanted to know if there was a hospital there, I said yes. They said "Well we're going to put you out convalscent and see what happens." And I said, "Well, what about the plate?" and they said "Your, your break, your skull, your fracture, is like this." He said "So far apart at one part is lower than the other and this part," he said "is too close to the brain to operate. So it may come back and knit together." Well I said, "What if it don't?" He said, "You won't know what happened."

Description

Mr. Pike recalls being terribly injured, but with no memory how. He describes how his fractures were so bad that doctors were unable to operate, for fear of doing more damage than good.

Ernest Pike

Mr. Ernest Pike was born in Newfoundland on September 17, 1921. With both parents being dead by 1934, Mr. Pike began to work at sea, sailing for seven months of the year and attending school in between. Wanting to fight for Canada, Mr. Pike immigrated from Newfoundland in 1941. Already sailing with Canadian National Steamship Lines, he signed up for the Merchant Navy. Mr. Pike remained with the Merchant Navy for the course of the war, sailing with numerous ships including the Chomedy, Lady Rodney, and Lady Nelson. Fracturing his skull in heavy action, Mr. Pike was laid up for three months but recovered and quickly returned to active service. Mr. Pike remained at sea after the war, eventually becoming master of the Abegweit, a P.E.I.- N.B. ferry and settling in Summerside, P.E.I., In 1966, he retired in 1978 after 35 years of service.

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