A Church With Two Steeples

Heroes Remember

A Church With Two Steeples

Transcript

I was there when they had both thousand bomber raids in August of '44. And it was August the 7th... It was the British and the Canadians, and I don't... they didn't hit their targets right, either, but way better then the Americans. And the second one was August the 14th. And we were up on this little hill, and where we were the planes would come over, and they were opening their bomb doors, like, they weren't, you know, that high, and you could see the bomb doors opening and you could see all the bombs coming out there, you know. And we had yellow smoke all around like, it was supposed to be to show that we're friends, but I don't think they even look. I don't know if the Americans even knew that there was such a thing, because they didn't seem to pay any attention. And then the Americans, they were seven miles behind their target, and we had a little Piper Cub that was an artillery guy, like, you know, and he dove at them and everything else, and firing flares, trying to stop them, like, from bombing, and they wouldn't stop. And they said, they asked after, when they investigated about it, they said their target was a church with, with two steeples. Well, Christ, in France there was, half the churches in, in France was two steeples. Every place you look there was, you know, churches with two steeples. We knew that it was our guys and the Poles that were getting it, because this guy I was telling you was in the Algonquin Regiment, and he was gone by then, but that was their outfit that was there, and the Poles they got 50 some tanks of, of Poles they knocked out. Right after that, the Poles went mad, and they, they, they started off. They, they said they were going to go to to Berlin, but they got so far and they run out of gas and ammunition. And after that, for about a week, that's all you could see was the sky was black with these, what do you call them, Dakota's, hauling oil and ammunition to them trying to get 'em back out again. They got caught way up there. They decided that, I guess, if they were gonna get killed they might as well go and get, go to Germany and get it done. But, I, I was there for both of them. They were something to watch, like not only... Well, that, that last one was worse because you knew there was Canadians and Poles getting it, but the first one it was just, you know, we didn't even know it was going to happen or anything, and it just, it come along, and it was just like being in a, what do you call it, like, you know, when everything shakes the ground, like, what do you, what... I can't remember the name of half the stuff now. But anyway, they'd, they'd fly, and they had... The, the air was just covered with tinsel paper and that, like, they were, you know, supposed to disrupt radio stuff and that, and radar and all that stuff, and it was just like being in a snowstorm. And the ground was just like this, you know... and geez, you'd look up there and it just, it give you the funniest feeling that you'd ever have, like, you know. I watched at least 10 come down, and, but, they'd, they'd, they'd come down... I don't know what happened. They come down funny. They weren't as if they were hit. They never come down, most of them come down. They circled down and, and, and you could see the guys bail out, like, but they were circling down like they didn't seem to be on fire, or anything. I don't know what the, what the score was. But you could hear the crashes, like, you know, when it hit. You got to get down, but you'd see from where we were, you could see the guys, you know, bailing out, but there was no other... There didn't seem to be any German planes around, like, shooting at them, they, that we could hear, anyway.

Description

Mr. Loranger describes the results of misidentifying a target area.

Paul Loranger

Mr. Loranger was born in Seseninika, Ontario in 1927. His family later moved to Englehart, Ontario, where his father was employed with the Canadian National Railway, and they were able to ride out the depression in relative comfort. Mr. Loranger joined the army at age 16, became disillusioned when denied entry into the paratroopers, quit, and then re-enlisted. Once in England, however, he joined the Calgary Highlanders, and was quickly sent to France. There, he was involved in driving out remnants of the German Army. He was recalled to England when his age was discovered, and eventually sent home to Canada. He worked for the CNR until his retirement. Mr. Loranger now resides in Harriston, Ontario.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 4:21
Person Interviewed:: Paul Loranger
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: France
Battle/Campaign:: Normandy
Branch:: Army
Units/Ship:: Calgary Highlanders, 5th Brigade
Rank:: Private
Occupation:: Infantry

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A Church With Two Steeples

Heroes Remember