Jonesy’s Story - A Tremendous Brotherhood

Heroes Remember

Jonesy’s Story - A Tremendous Brotherhood

Transcript

When you think back of all of the, the very, very good friends you had and the friends who you could go and say, "How 'bout loaning me a pound?" you know, or something like that, or, "Can you let me have a package of cigarettes or a carton of cigarettes until mine come in from Canada?" No questions to it. "Sure, go ahead. Here you are." Never a, never a refusal. Germany, we were only there for about two weeks and of course we always had these, these sort of rest areas where we would stop and get cleaned up and clean our weapons and tidy up a bit. And, so, this evening we were stopped in this place and one of our section... See, a platoon consisted of 33 people, and there were three sections to a platoon, three lance sergeants at the head of each section and two, and a corporal at the, at the, at the end of each section, and then we had a platoon sergeant. So, this chap, Jonesy we called him, who had been overseas for over five years and that time when a person had five years service in he could elect to come back to Canada, but Jonesy decided, well, he'd been there for five years and the war was winding down so he would, he decided to stay until the end of the, the conflict. So, anyway, we were in this area and so we were getting cleaned up and I had no soap but, so, I looked over and Jonesy had a piece of soap, not too large, so I said, "Can I borrow your soap?" And first he refused and then he said, "Well," he said, "I'll let you have it as long as you don't allow anyone else to have it." So, as things went, you know, it was, "Oh, Mollie, you've got soap. I'll borrow it from you." So, I say, when I, when I finally returned it to Jonesy, it was about a third the size that when he gave it to me. So, he said, "Dammit, Melanson," he said, "that's the last time I'm ever going to loan you anything." And so I turn, I said to Jonesy, "Oh, that's ok Jo," I said, "I've got a parcel coming in from Canada, and there's going to be soap in it and I'll return, I'll give you a cake." "Okay," he said, "make sure you do!" So, the next morning, the order came to move out and we just started moving out, and it came back through the line Jonesy had been killed. There was a sniper up ahead and Jonesy, unfortunately or unforgetfully, stuck his head through a hole in the, this stone wall, and the sniper shot him. And that was a heartbreaking, a heartbreaking event for the, for the platoon because he was very, very well-liked. Yeah, and... However, that's the way it goes. And you know, surprisingly enough, the fellows that are still living from the, from the battalion or in the association and so on, they're still the same way. They haven't changed their philosophy in that sense whatever. If they have something and they feel that you need it, they'll offer it to you. It's a tremendous brotherhood. And I wouldn't, I wouldn't change one, one of them. The fellows, we formed an association after the war and it's very, very active. We now meet at least once a year somewhere in Canada, and so on. And everyone gets together and, and it's, well, I guess none of us can have friends, have friends as close as those that are in the association.

Description

Mr. Melanson describes the tremendous bond among the remaining members of his battalion.

Russel C Melanson Sr.

Mr. Melanson was born in Mill Village, Nova Scotia, on August 16, 1922. He worked on a farm and in the woods, and completed his education before his first attempt to enlist. He was turned down by the navy as he was underage. Similarly, after joining the West Novies, an artillery regiment, he was discharged for being underage. He was finally accepted into the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion and completed his basic training in Shilo, Manitoba. Once overseas, he was attached to the 3rd Brigade, 6th Airborne Division. Mr. Melanson's first action was at the Battle of the Bulge. His second was the Allied /Russian advance into Germany from the east. After leaving the army, Mr. Melanson became a hydrographer, and retired as the Regional Hydrographer, Bedford Institute of Oceanography.

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