No Training On Weapons

Heroes Remember

No Training On Weapons

Transcript

To get over there, to go into war and not have any idea how to use some of the weapons that we were supposed to know about... I’d never used a Bren gun. When I come from the hospital the first time, I was transferred to the 48th Highland Regiment. And I was in a hut with about six other guys and this corporal came in, red headed corporal, and he said, “Anyone want to go with me on a patrol?” And of course the other guys they knew him and they wouldn’t go. And I said, “Oh, I’ll go.” And he said, “Have you ever been on patrol?” I said, “Yes”, but nothing like that of course. So he give me a Tommy gun. We went out. He told me where we were going and that and what to do. And he went to a door, a little house like, and there was light in there. He knew the Germans were there and he dashed in and grabbed a German and yanked him out and took off on the run and he said, “Hold him,” and he give me this Tommy gun and I was holding it and the Germans run out. None of them had a weapon and they were standing in front of me, about four of them, and I was going back and forth clicking the Tommy gun and wondering why it didn’t shoot. So they run one way, I run the other. Got back and was he ever mad. He said, “Why didn’t you shoot the bastards?” And I said, “I was trying,” I said, “The thing wouldn’t work.” He said, “Did you flip the safety catch?” “I didn’t know where it was.” He said, “Did you ever shoot one?” I said, “I never seen one before.” More luck than good management I guess. First place, I would want to have some training before going into action like that. But it just seemed like in Calgary, I was quarantined every once in a while and never really got trained like I should have. England, we never got trained more or less either. We didn’t have, you know… there was no ammunition for weapons. Mostly all we did was route marches and things.

Description

Mr. Kocher speaks about his responsibility of shooting weapons and having no idea how to handle them.

Lyle Kocher

Mr. Kocher was born in Clive, Alberta on June 2, 1918. He was the youngest in his family with three brothers and two sisters. After six years of school he decided to quit and help his father with farming. As a young boy, Mr. Kocher joined the Royal Fusiliers of Edmonton Reserves. He enlisted in Edmonton and then went to Calgary for basic training. Mr. Kocher spent much of his army life in Italy and Africa. After returning home he wrote a book about being a Canadian soldier during the Second World War. In it, he shares his story of lost innocence and self- discovery.

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