Getting Shot Down (Part 3 of 4)

Heroes Remember

Getting Shot Down (Part 3 of 4)

Transcript

It wasn’t long after that til I flew in a Hurricane to forty two thousand feet. It was a record at that time.I had oxygen but, do you know, it was funny, when I got up there, it was gray and I could see the round of the earth, you know, because I was in right in the middle of England and I said, they said, “Two times two.” And I had to think, you know, and they said, “Scruffy. Pancake,” which means come down. Well I had to be very careful because I was just hanging on the prop, you know, and I got down and, but probably I wouldn’t have been able to do it if I hadn’t had this oxygen, low metabolic rate thing. So, when I bailed out, I never lost consciousness, and first thing that happened, was, that really made me mad, was my boot shot off and that was the boot I had my gun in and of course I was burnt. Well it was kind of badly burnt hands and face and.. I landed and I was not far from Abbeville. Probably about, I don’t know exactly how far but I had been to summer school in Dinard, which is not very far. It’s on the coast of France. So, I thought, “Well, I’ll head for that.” and I buried my parachute and, and I met a guy on a bike. And they told us never to talk to anybody, with anybody else around. Always pick somebody by themselves because you never know when you are going to have a, what do you call a, an unfriendly Frenchman who’s going to turn you in.

Description

Mr. Weir thinks back to the time when he had to bail out of his plane at 25,000 feet.

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:: 01:47
Person Interviewed:: John Weir
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Europe
Branch:: Air Force
Units/Ship:: 401 Squadron
Occupation:: Pilot

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Getting Shot Down (Part 3 of 4)

Heroes Remember