Beginning to Sense the End of the War

Heroes Remember

Beginning to Sense the End of the War

Transcript

Actually I was beginning to see the end of the war but I wasn’t sure how much further ahead it was but things changed so that there wasn’t the same pressure that there was. It seemed to have ended with the Falaise Gap which was back in France and freeing France at the end of August or liberating if you like so the French would come in and take over instead of the Patton army going into Paris, the French people were able to recover their own country because it had all been over in August. So we bashed on through, the whole army of course, not just me, through Belgium and Holland and ended up in Germany and then back into Holland before it was all over but getting into Holland was a period of some relief but not totally because it was tough, tough getting across the waters of the Scheldt estuary with what went on in that period of time, you know, with the shelling that the Germans were capable of doing on the other side of that waterworks, we finally captured Antwerp which made a big difference and that sort of triggered the difference, now we can have food and supplies and armament and everything. The Germans were wilting down slowly and they were losing the game. But it gave us a chance in some respects to ease up a bit, you know, or get more rest or get a shower or get your clothes changed; things like that that weren’t always easy.

Description

As the end of war draws near, Mr. Fowler remembers the feelings of relief that overcame the soldiers.

Donald Fowler

Mr. Donald Fowler was born November 7, 1925 in Peterborough, Ontario. At the age of 12, he became a bandsman bugler with the Princess of Wales Own Regiment (MG) and at this time became war-trained at Connaught Rifle Ranges in Ottawa firing Vickers machine-guns and 303 rifles. Still in his teens, Mr. Fowler enlisted in the army as a private soldier with the 1st Battalion Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders. Mr. Fowler served during wartime as a drummer yet managed to see a great deal of action and combat up close and personal. Fowler holds great pride for his service and is deeply proud of his Metis heritage. He has had many opportunities to travel back to France and Holland to commemorate significant anniversaries. After the war, Mr. Fowler continued to play in the Queen's University pipe-band and later in other community pipe-bands. Discharged in August 1945, Mr. Fowler went back to school and ended up obtaining an education at Queens University holding under graduate standing in Honours Social Behaviour toward a multi-disciplinary study in Sociopsychobiology. Mr. Fowler held a career with GTE (General Telephones and Electronics Corporation). He is now retired and resides in Brockville, Ontario.

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