Civilians Suffered

Heroes Remember

Civilians Suffered

Transcript

Civilians you had to take pity on. Babies, men and women, and they just... well, they didn’t know what was going on. And it was terrible, it was terrible watching it. I could visualize people being buried under that, under that material that was blown down, buildings that was knocked down. They tried to escape all this stuff. Going in the country, going in caves and where ever they could hide. Tried to get away from war. And to see, when I went back this time, in one of the buildings we visited, I see plaques on the wall like you see this here. And this particular building, a little baby, three months old, six months old, two years old, children five years old. It gets to you, you know. Those children never had a chance in life, because we were there, and not only us, the Germans who were defending that city or town. But you were fighting a war and that’s war. The civilians paid for it as well as the military, you know. And I found that awfully hard, looking at that wall, to see those little kids, their names, you know.

Description

Mr. Dingwell describes the plight of civilians who become the victims of armed conflict, and in particular talks about infant children who are commemorated on a “wall of pictures” which he sees on a later pilgrimage.

George Dingwell

George Dingwell was born on February 21, 1925 in Port-aux-Basques, Newfoundland. His family later moved to Corner Brook, where his father and brother were employed by the railroad. After a short time working for the railroad himself, Mr. Dingwell decided to enlist in April of 1942. In England, he trained as a truck driver and was assigned to the 166th Battalion, which was then deployed to Italy. Mr. Dingwell’s draft remained in a holding unit through the winter of ‘44-‘45. The day he joined his Battalion in Northern Italy, it was coming out of battle and was soon disbanded. Mr. Dingwell then volunteered for the Japanese theatre, but that theatre ended before he saw action.

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