Terrific Soldiers

When I was 18, 19, and 20 that was almost the Depression, somewhere around there. Probably in the ‘30s I guess, this was probably... and it took a war to boom the country. You wonder something. Why? Why can’t we have the same luxury that we had you know, right after the war? But it’s very hard to explain. My grandson says, “Grandpa, this is the ‘90s.” See, he’s changing. Different generation, different era. And so we think, I think they’re spoiled brats, some of them. But you can’t paint them all with the same brush. But there is a lot of nice young people. I met some nice, very nice young people. And I think it’s up to yourself. You make your own bed from the time... that’s mine. I made my own bed since I was 13 and I had so many roads I could’ve choosen, especially in Toronto and the Depression in Toronto. Oh, I had a lot of people that would, no way ... I went my own way. I often wonder when I was overseas, even then, “What in the heck am I doing here? We’re fighting a real maniac, and people are following him.” And the way they were killing people with no reason, destroying the Jewish and stuff like that, and then Poland. The way they invade Poland was really maddening. And I thought, we ... what I figured we gotta fight them on their own ground, otherwise they’re gonna be here. You know, probably have to fight them on our own. So it would be better to fight them on their own territory. I think most Canadian soldier was not a war maurier, you know, we didn’t like to... but I’ll tell you one thing, we had some regiment. They were good. The Chaudiere, they were right ahead of us on D-Day. And the Black Watch, the Van Doos. Boy, we had some terrific soldiers.

Mr. Ducharme reflects on the reasons for his service during the Second World War.

Paul Ducharme

Paul Ducharme was born in Montreal, Quebec in 1919. His family moved to Lorraine, Ontario where his father had a successful career with the Abitibi lumber company. Mr. Ducharme left home, penniless, at the age of thirteen. In the years leading up to his enlistment, he was employed as a trapper, a guide, a male poster model, and a mushroom picker. He enlisted in Ontario and volunteered for the new 19th Self-propelled Artillery Regiment being formed in Borden, Ontario. After shipping overseas on the Queen Mary, Mr. Ducharme took part in the D-Day invasion, landing at Juno Beach. He saw further action in France, Belgium and Holland. He was wounded by shrapnel in Holland and sent back to England. After leaving the service, Mr. Ducharme operated an auto body shop for 40 years.