She Did Not Like Canadians

Heroes Remember

She Did Not Like Canadians

Transcript

The wounded were starting to come in from, from Caen at that time and I watched the doctors work on some of them a few times, it was quite an education. But you see some guy come in he's dirty as the dickens like that there. Well one guy had a gouge in his back about so wide you know and a cut about a foot and half long and four holes in his head, skinned his head on each side, and a young English fella there asked what had happened. He said that shell, a bullet went through his helmet, (inaudible) helmet each time it went through it took a chunk out of the side of his head. And the gouge is when he was on the ground a piece of artillery splitter, shell splitter on there, so I was watching the doctor clean him up, in fact the doctor called me over and told me to take a look at it what he was doing to the guys back. Pretty ugly looking. I says, "Can you do anything about that?" He says, "Yeah." so he says, "Take a look about an hour from now." He had it all cleaned up he looked quite nice you know, for a mess. But there was an old matron there, an English woman, and I think she must have been stood up by some guy in the First World War because she did not like Canadians, and I was the only Canadian in the place. And this naffy girl and a friend of hers used to come in every day or so like that, and of course in the naffy would give you a mug of tea every few minutes it seemed This old lady used to come in every time these friends of mine come in there and she said, "Dirty Canadian don't even know enough to clean their mugs up." And all that kind of stuff. And I was doing a jigsaw puzzle one night and she said, "It's time you're in bed." Well I wasn't hurt, I wasn't sleepy like that. She just annoyed me. So one night I thought I'd pay her back, so I got my big boots on, hobbin' heels and all, went out in the hall way it was a town hall, I started walking up and down in front of her office at two o'clock in the morning. And she come out, and she said, "What are you doing?" I said, "I can't sleep." "Well," she said, "You're bothering me." I said, "That's too bad." If I can't sleep what am I supposed to do?" So anyway she went back into her office and I kept on walking there and she come out and she says finally she says, "I'll make you a deal, you go back to bed and get those bloody shoes off," she says, "I'll leave you alone." So she did and I went back to bed.

Description

Mr. Tomlin gives a glimpse of the efficiency and personalities in a wartime hospital setting.

Glen Tomlin

Mr. Tomlin was born in Clinton, Ontario, in 1923. His family moved to Harriston when he was very young. Once he was old enough he worked in a box factory earning $7/week for 60 hours of labour. Despite having had rheumatic fever, which made it impossible for him to walk at a marching pace, Mr. Tomlin was accepted by the army, where he trained as a field gunner. He later switched to infantry, joining the Hard Light Infantry, 9th Brigade, 3rd Canadian Division. Mr. Tomlin's service saw him in several combats in Northern Europe, often engaging the enemy at very close quarters. Mr. Tomlin now resides in Palmerston, Ontario.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 2:17
Person Interviewed:: Glen Tomlin
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Europe
Battle/Campaign:: Battle of the Scheldt
Branch:: Army
Units/Ship:: Highland Light Infantry
Rank:: Private
Occupation:: Gunner

Language selection

She Did Not Like Canadians

Heroes Remember