First Encounter on Guard Duty

Heroes Remember

First Encounter on Guard Duty

Transcript

So we stood guard and I remember one night, I was a way, way out on the boon docks, the back of the airport and of course they had a fence, a barbed wire fence all around and I had a little guard post there that I was supposed to be there. It was on the midnight to four o'clock in the morning, so it was a four hour shift out there. It was cold, it was dark as Hades, you couldn't believe how dark it could be. And I was standing there with my rifle and I'm listening and every little sound I just about, you know just absolutely almost froze. And all of a sudden and what happens in a situation like this, if there is an alert, in other words if one of the men on guard duty feels that there's a danger, that he's gonna be attacked, or that something is not right, he fires his gun and if he fires his gun immediately there's a reaction from, cause everybody hears the gun go off and out would come a couple off trucks full of air men or whatever to see what the problem is. So I'm standing there, its about 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning and I heard foot steps and I couldn't believe it because it was so dark and there was no real path, there was a bit of a road, that's all. And I heard these foot steps coming closer and closer and finally I said, "Halt, who goes there?" There wasn't a sound, no response whatsoever. I could still hear the foot steps coming closer and closer and closer and I said, "Is this my imagination or is this real?" So I got my rifle up and I said, "Halt or I fire," which is the second command that you are trained to do and still the footsteps kept coming and finally I thought this is it and so I just aimed down in the direction that I thought this guy was coming from and I pulled the trigger and of course there was a blast a sheet of flame that came out of the end . The first bullet in your rifle is a dud, no not a dud, but it's a what, what do ya call it? Interviewer: Blank Blank. But still makes a hell of a noise and it still has the flash and everything but no projectile. So I fired this and I was as nervous but all of a sudden I heard some guy yell out “(inaudible), no” and it turned out to be an old man, he must have been in his seventies, white haired , wisened features and he was carrying on his shoulder some two by fours which he had scrounged down the road somewhere and he was taking these home for whatever. So it was quite an experience, my first experience at firing at something you know or thinking I was firing at something.

Description

Mr. Finley describes his encounter with an unidentified person while on guard duty late one night. He also provides an overview of guard duty protocol.

Hartland Ross Finley

Hartland Ross Finley was born on August 19, 1921 in Montreal, Quebec. His father served in the First World War with the 42 Battalion (the Blackwatch of Montreal). Mr. Finley joined the Air Force shortly after the start of the Second World War. His training took place in Ontario, Quebec and Prince Edward Island. After the completion of his training, he remained in Canada to be a flight instructor. One year later he went overseas into action. On his first mission his plane was damaged and crashed into the English Channel. Mr.Finley went on to fly many successful missions and he finished the War with five confirmed kills. Approaching the end of the War, Mr. Finley was shot down and evaded capture for two days. After leaving the service, Mr. Finley went on to have a very successful career as a commercial pilot.

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