Getting Shot Down (Part 2 of 4)

Heroes Remember

Getting Shot Down (Part 2 of 4)

Transcript

Abbeville, in France, and it was, it was, I knew the area so I thought I was duck soup to get down there and I’d just head for my old school masters house and I’d be home. But I went blind so, there was no point, I couldn’t do it. It happened so fast, that you haven’t got time to pray and I’ve got a story about that. When I was brought to Dulag there a minister there. A Catholic minister, nice, really nice guy; Scottish brogue. You could cut it with a knife, and said, and I was known as Scotty, “Scotty,” he said, “did you pray when you got shot?” And I said, “Father, if I had prayed I would have been dead.” He said, “What do you mean?” I said, “Well raw oxygen and raw gas hitting me in the face, if I had taken a, open my mouth and said help, I was dead.” “Oh,” he said, “I understand that.” So, and that’s where, I got hit in the gas tank and, and it came back and most of my instruments were gone and so I, I just pulled the what do you call it and jumped right away. And luckily I’m one of of the people that can stand high altitude. Most people faint at twenty five thousand without oxygen. They were doing tests to see, because we, there was a good chance I was going to be posted to Africa and they wanted people who didn’t need as much water, and I didn’t, at that time I never drank much water. I was very, and there are two types of people; some that use a lot of water and some don’t. Anyhow, the other thing they wanted to test was my oxygen, or metabolism, my rate, metabolic rate. And so, they put me in one of these pressure chambers and that’s when they discovered that I could stay conscious to twenty five thousand feet.

Description

Mr. Weir continues his account of being shot down. He recalls how he ended up blind and in enemy occupied territory.

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:: 02:04
Person Interviewed:: John Weir
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Europe
Branch:: Air Force
Units/Ship:: 401 Squadron
Occupation:: Pilot

Language selection

Getting Shot Down (Part 2 of 4)

Heroes Remember