City of Caen

Heroes Remember

City of Caen

Transcript

After the city of Caen was shelled and bombed and flattened almost to nothing, the Canadian army bulldozed a road through the city of Caen. That city stuck in my mind because it was about approximately the size of Charlottetown and the population of Charlottetown. So there was many, many bodies under the rubble in this town and it was hot, it was hot, hot weather. I made countless trips back and forth through Caen to the cities around there - little places like Buron, they were still fighting in it. Countless trips but when I’d get to the outskirts of Caen, I had a cowboy, red cowboy handkerchief and I’d put it on my nose and mouth before I could ride through that city with the stench, with the dead bodies.

Description

Mr. Downe talks about the city of Caen and compares the size of it to his hometown of Charlottetown.

Russell Downe

Russell Downe was born on February 26, 1924 in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. He joined the army when he was just seventeen, following in the footsteps of his two brothers, Edward and Robert, who were already overseas. His training took place at Niagara-on-the-Lake. Mr. Downe worked as a motorcycle dispatch rider for most of the war where he was responsible for delivering urgent messages.

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