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Father Wilheim

Heroes Remember

Transcript
At one time, they asked where I lost my radio operator. We went up to a meeting in (inaudible) just before Regalbuto, and the colonel went to his meeting, and when we... waiting for him to come back we had a mortar attack. I was on one side of the tank, the right hand side of the tank, my radio operator was other side. We were doing some work there you know, cleaning up or something. And the mortar landed on his side. Killed him completely. Father Wilheim was our padre at the time, he, that's when... I knew him you know. But I was never intimate with Father Wilheim and he came over, and he knew all our names, I was surprised. He asked me what was the matter, I said "Well, Bert here is, I can't find him." I said a mortar went down. So we went ahead and looked around and found parts of his body, we gathered it together. And I turned around and said to Father Wilheim, after we gathered everything up and buried it, you know. I says, "I got a problem." He says, "What's that?" I says, "If something happens to me and I get killed, who's going to say, give me my last rights?" And Father Wilheim turned around he says "Don't worry about it", he says "I can look after that." And he pulled up a Hebrew bible. Then he read off he says "Am I right?" I says "Thank you very much" I said "I can go peacefully now!" He had a great sense of humor Father Wilheim. One of the finest padres I've ever met.
Description

Mr. Horowitz talks about the Padre who comforted him after his radio operator's death and helped him face his own possible demise.

Robert Horowitz

Mr. Horowitz was born in Cornwall, Ontario, on August 30, 1919, of Jewish parents who immigrated to Canada from Russia. He grew up in Montreal where he studied at Lord Arthur School and then moved on to Montreal High. He enlisted with the Régiment de Trois-Rivières in the latter part of 1939 when he was 20 years old and still in high school. Mr. Horowitz attended Camp Borden during the winter of 1939-40 for approximately 1.75 years. He first set foot on European soil in Scotland and trained in Salisbury. He saw action for the first time in Sicily and the southern part of the Italian peninsula before being wounded in Tremali. Following the war, he spent some time with Veterans Affairs assisting Canadian Veterans in England and later retired in Canada.

Meta Data
Medium:
Video
Owner:
Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:
01:58
Person Interviewed:
Robert Horowitz
War, Conflict or Mission:
Second World War
Location/Theatre:
Italy
Battle/Campaign:
Italian
Branch:
Army
Units/Ship:
Three Rivers
Occupation:
Gunner

Copyright / Permission to Reproduce

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