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Canadian breakout up the coast of France into Belgium

Heroes Remember

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Canadian breakout up the coast of France into Belgium

Transcript
I saw that myself with, with our own medical officers that we had with us, you know because they were, they were the same as us, they'd never seen any wounds and, you know, like that and so on which, you know, in peace time you don't, you don't come across at all. And some of them are quite sad, really, because later on we were in Germany and we came across this little boy who was no more than five years of age that had gone into a tank which was booby trapped, and he lost, his leg was just hanging, you know, by just a couple of threads and there was nothing we could do except take it off, you know, but that, that's going too far ahead. Well, Falaise of course, after Falaise well then we broke out and we were, some days we would not stop for, for a, you know, 12-14 hours, we'd be just driving as fast as we could. And I understand that the 4th Armoured Division moved the whole division farther in one day than any other, a whole division, than any other unit in, in the Allied Forces. I mean sure, Patton would, would rush ahead with his Tank Corps, but the rest of the, his units were all miles behind, you know the infantry for cleaning up and so on, but we were close to the coast all the time because that was the Canadians objective was to, to clear out the ports, they wanted the port.
Description

Mr. Weicker continues to talk about the injuries after the bombing raid, and the Canadian breakout up the coast of France into Belgium.

John Joseph Weicker

John Joseph Weicker was born on November 17, 1920, in Duncan, British Columbia. Mr. Weicker attended Duncan High School and completed his first year of university there as well. He attended Gonzaga University for his second year and returned to Victoria, BC, in 1941 to work at St. Joseph's Hospital as an apprentice pharmacist. Mr. Weicker got a call to join the army, however, was given an exemption because there was a requirement of four years apprenticeship before he could write the pharmacist exam. The Pharmacy Association allowed him to do one year apprenticeship and the other three years would be served while he was in the army. He was exempted until August. From there he did basic training in Vernon and at the Camp Borden Medical Training Centre. He was then sent to Chilliwack Military Hospital. While there he volunteered to go overseas. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Weicker was sent to Vancouver to Hastings Park where a unit was forming, 12th Field Dressing Station. In May 1942 his unit was sent overseas to Northern Scotland, and was eventually assigned to the 4th Armoured Division. There was no call for an apprentice pharmacist so Mr. Weicker was listed as a nursing orderly. On D-Day he crossed the Strait of Dover and made his way to Juno Beach. From there he went on to Falaise, Normandy. After the war ended he crossed the Rhine to Wilhelmshaven, Germany. After leaving the Army, Mr. Weicker completed pharmacy school and passed his pharmacy exams in 1947.

Meta Data
Medium:
Video
Owner:
Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:
01:39
Person Interviewed:
John Joseph Weicker
War, Conflict or Mission:
Second World War
Location/Theatre:
France
Branch:
Army
Units/Ship:
4th Armoured Division
Occupation:
Nursing Orderly

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