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Close call

Heroes Remember

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Close call

Transcript
It turns out after, that they'd gone north of the, of the autobahn at that time. And so, they weren't encroaching on our field at all. About two days later though, no I guess it was about a week later, I was, it was my turn to ride in the cart. I was just dozing in the straw. And the other guys walking behind, and I don't know what the hell, I got up and looked over the top of the horse's rump. "Oh shit," and here comes a gray field car, and I, and its got a flag on it so it has to be a colonel or above and I said, "Oh Christ, we've had it." So I yelled at Sam, I said, "Tell the guard to assume prisoner of war position and get in behind the cart and for God's sake hangdog. And don't look at anybody. Hangdog, and look sick." And the car stopped, it was a major, and a colonel and a captain and two guards. And I said, "God, this is gonna be something." And our guard was sweating like nothing, and he was as gray as as the damn car but it was lousy weather, and hot as hell so didn't catch on. The colonel said, he wanted to know where they were, and what the name of the next village was, which we had just come through. And so we told him, we didn't, the guard did. And he said, then he said, "What's the, what's all this? And the guard said, "I'm taking these prisoners of war to Luftwaffe," a camp in Lübbecke. "Ah," understand, he knew the camp was there. We didn't know the camp was there, but he knew there was a camp there. But anyhow, that was fine, off he went. We had to head south for another two days, and back up because you couldn't take a chance with them. And, but everything went fine.
Description

Mr. Weir and his comrades have an encounter with a Major who questions what they are doing. The guard saves the day by claiming to be taking them to a concentration camp nearby.

John Weir

Mr. Weir was born in Toronto on July 22, 1919. His father was DSO MC in the First World War, a colonel. He was machine gunner in the 19th Battalion, and was gassed at Vimy and suffered from then on with asthma. After seeing the horrific pictures of the trench warfare from his father's service, Mr. Weir decided to join the Air Force rather than serve in the trenches. He joined the service the day after war was declared and began his training in Winnipeg. He started off as a pilot officer-provisional but wanted to be a fighter pilot. During his service, Mr. Weir was shot down in Barth and captured. He was a prisoner in a Gestapo jail, and was involved in "The Great Escape from Stalag Luft III". He was moved to various prison camps and witnessed atrocities of the Holocaust. He eventually escaped on a forced-march from Bremerhaven to Lübbecke by bribing a German guard.

Meta Data
Medium:
Video
Owner:
Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:
02:06
Person Interviewed:
John Weir
War, Conflict or Mission:
Second World War
Location/Theatre:
Europe
Battle/Campaign:
Battle of Britain
Branch:
Air Force
Units/Ship:
401 Squadron
Occupation:
Pilot

Copyright / Permission to Reproduce

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