Receiving Care Packages

Heroes Remember

Receiving Care Packages

I never knew of anybody that got sick. Really, I never knew of anybody. I couldn’t eat the black bread for some reason or other. Not that I didn’t like it but I would get it in my mouth and I’d get a bunch of saliva build up so I used to give it away and they’d give me a potato or something for it. You know another thing. Everybody was hungry to an extent, we had our Red Cross parcels. I never heard of anyone getting anything stole out of their parcel. You know, you’d think somebody was going to, I never heard of anybody. It’s funny how they, it was a different group of people or different training or whatever done it I don’t know, maybe it’s good training in the army eh? And I never did but a lot of people used to get soap, carbolic soap and then they’d get chocolate in there and the soap flavour would go into the chocolate. That was a sad thing. And the Stettler ladies, they used to send us a box of cigars, ya Benson & Hedges cigars.

Mr. Cole tells about the contents given in the Red Cross parcels as well as the care packages sent from their families back home.

Elmer Cole

Mr. Elmer Cole was born in Roche Percee, Saskatchewan on December 22, 1919. At age 15 he started working and left school with a grade eight education. In 1940 he joined with the South Saskatchewan Regiment taking basic training in Winnipeg and in Feb. 41 he came back to Brandon, Manitoba for mechanical training, switching over to The Calgary Tanks as a trooper on the Churchill tanks. Mr. Cole travelled overseas to England where he was given more training until the summer of ’42 when the Dieppe Raid occurred. Mr. Cole fought through the battle only to surrender with other Canadian soldiers where he became a POW until ’45 when they were set free. After returning to Canada, Mr. Cole worked with the Department of National Defence, then carried on as a mechanic but with the strong desire to always be a wheat farmer, he and his wife bought a farm in Oak bank, Manitoba until he retired at the young age of 54. Mr. Cole and wife Isabel adopted two boys. Now widowed, Mr. Cole spends much of his time playing cards and socializing with residents of his retirement home as well as spending time with his grandchildren. In 2005 Mr. Cole was presented with an Honorary Life Member certificate of the Kiwanis Club in his local community. Presently, at age 97, Mr. Coles continues to enjoy a relaxed and healthy lifestyle.