Against Communism

Heroes Remember

Against Communism

Transcript

I looked upon Europe as trouble. As I see for myself, even until this very day, I went to Korea thinking of communism. I had some, why I had fear, I don’t know. I was a young guy. Why should I be scared of anything? But when I heard communism, it just made me say, “Well, the country wanted volunteers, I’d be it.” Because of the stories I’ve heard of communism, or Bolshevism, in in the olden days in the Depression, it just made a young guy's blood boil. You know, to hear these things, what did they do over there? The governments, what did they do with their officers? They shot them. The people, you had to keep quiet, you couldn’t say a word. That kind of government, and I thought, “Gee, we haven’t got it here. What if we have it here?” It disturbed me a lot. Interviewer: What do you remember about your thoughts in the late 1930's about fascism, or Naziism? Were you thinking that those were similar to what you thought of when you thought of communism? Very much so, very much so. I knew it wasn’t capitalism or democracy. It was just something different, something that was sort of rough. An attitude of somebody running a country. An attitude that wasn’t very good.

Description

Mr. Schreyer recalls his thoughts on Communism and the effects it could have if it came to Canada.

Henry Schreyer

Mr. Henry Schreyer was born August 30th, 1923 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He was raised on the family farm in Beausejour, Manitoba where he lived through the Depression of the 1930s. Mr. Schreyer left the family farm and moved to Ontario where on Aug 6, 1941 he decided to join the Canadian Forces. His first choice was the Canadian Navy but, because he would have had to return home before they would take him, he joined the Canadian Army and was taken into service right away. Mr. Schreyer did his basic training in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba and soon after was assigned to the Royal Canadian Engineers. He trained in Victoria, BC before travelling across Canada for deployment to Europe and active duty. He was part of the D-Day landings, served throughout the Normandy campaign, and spent time with the army of occupation in Germany at the end of the Second World War. Mr. Schreyer was released from the Canadian Army and travelled quite extensively, working in a variety of different occupations; farmer, mover and “beating the rods”. In 1952, Mr. Schreyer re-enlisted with the Canadian Army and joined the Royal Canadian Regiment. He served as an Honour Guard on Parliament Hill for the induction of the First Canadian Governor General. Mr Schreyer served as a volunteer in the Korean War. His journey took him via Japan to Pusan, then north to serve on the Jamestown Line. During his service, Mr. Schreyer was wounded and transferred from the front lines. Eventually, because of his injuries, he decided to leave the Canadian Army. After his service, he went back to his earlier occupation as a mover. He took up a career in packing and receiving and then as a transport driver.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 2:03
Person Interviewed:: Henry Schreyer
Branch:: Army
Units/Ship:: Royal Canadian Regiment
Occupation:: Gunner

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Against Communism

Heroes Remember