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Consequences of a Wound

Heroes Remember

Consequences of a Wound

Transcript
Oh I was in a jeep when the jeep went over a land mine and got blown up. And I got a concussion on the brain, head. To the military wisdom I was sent back to Foggia , and then to Malta and then on to Tunis in the holding camp there. And they wanted me to stay there as an instructor. We found out afterwards my papers came in a week before and the colonel there was thinking if he held the papers long enough I might change my mind. Then I went to Algiers picked up the hospice ship went back to England. From there back to Montreal. We went on the New Amsterdam. On our own, I was with a group of forty soldiers. We were guarding straight across to Halifax non stop. Interviewer: When you left England, you would have left behind your wife. My wife yeah. And a daughter. Interviewer: How difficult was that? I don't know, it was difficult of course leaving my daughter there, and my wife, but I was pleased to get back. When I got here, I arranged to have, because I've had contacts in Ottawa, and I arranged for her to get on the..one of the boats. I don't remember the name of the boat. And she went on there. There was her and she had a cabin...two people in her cabin, and they treated her as royalty. Very, very good. It took me about 34 months, possibly longer to get myself back in the...in the workforce, let's put it that way there. Interviewer: So your convalescence was a lengthy one? Well about three months. I was given a discharge at that time, after two months, three months, and when I walked out, I walked away from it, everything went blank.
Description

Mr. Horowitz talks about what happened after he was wounded in Termoli: first sent to hospital, then bumped from country to country, having to leave his wife and daughter in England, returning to Canada, getting his wife back, his recovery and his discharge.

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:
02:33
Person Interviewed:
Robert Horowitz
War, Conflict or Mission:
Second World War
Location/Theatre:
Europe
Battle/Campaign:
Italian
Branch:
Army
Units/Ship:
Three Rivers
Occupation:
Gunner

Copyright / Permission to Reproduce

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