The One Time I Volunteered

Heroes Remember

The One Time I Volunteered

Transcript

I didn’t land in England with any troops or anything, I just was reinforcement and I was sent to Brighton on the coast and all we did was guard duty. I didn’t do any training just guarding against the Germans landing. And a nice hotel where we stayed in Brighton. And the Germans used to come over every night and strafe our hotel. They expected the Germans to land in that area and that went on for quite a while. Let’s say about three months before D-Day. And then some lieutenant from the Royal Winnipeg Rifles come to Brighton. He was looking for volunteers for drivers, mortarman and motorcycle dispatch riders. I put up my hand to volunteer and I think that’s the last time I ever volunteered for anything because it got me into D-Day. I volunteered and they took me away and a bunch of other soldiers. And that was the very thing I was lonely. No friends, you’re just shoved in with strangers and I was reinforcements for the Winnipeg Rifles.

Description

As part of reinforcement with the Winnipeg Rifles Mr. Couture shares the story of how he ended up being part of the D-Day invasion.

George Couture

Mr. George Couture was born in Pennsylvania, United States on November 5, 1924. At three years of age his widowed mother moved the family of five children to Selkirk, Manitoba at a time when Canada was experiencing the Great Depression. Signing up to serve his country, Mr. Couture tried two times and on his third attempt joined the infantry with the Winnipeg Rifles. He traveled overseas on Isle de France and through coincidence this was the same ship he returned home on after the war. Mr. Couture volunteered for service which resulted in him being part of the D-Day invasion on June 6, then on June 8th was captured as POW. Spending time in the prisoner of war camps and suffering the life of starvation and disease, Mr. Couture survived and was liberated on April 23, 1945. Returning home to Winnipeg, Mr. Couture continued to serve in the military and volunteered for the Korean War. After thirty years military service he retired from the Canadian military. He now resides in Calgary, Alberta.

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