The War Ends in Holland

When the war finished I was in Eindhoven in Holland the day the war, well I was in over the border in Germany, three or four of

Army cars rolling down road surrounded by cheering civilians as soldiers stand on car seats.

my friends and myself actually. We went in from Eindhoven, we

Army officer saluting as car drives by.

were into pick up some tools because the place had been bombed

Soldiers standing at attention as civilians watch on as cars drive by. Crumbling buildings in background.

out and those machines had, not for us but for you know, for the unit. When we come back we didn’t know what to think of it.

Trucks carrying soldiers and civilians drive through crows of cheering men and women.

I mean everybody, women, men, girls all riding the jeeps and the

Soldiers shaking hands and bystanders embracing the soldiers.

cars and everyone going mad. That was the fifth, I believe the fifth of May and I had a few francs and I paid 80 guilders for a bottle of Johnny Walker.

Mr. Austin describes some of the events he took part in at war’s end.

Stephen Austin

Stephen Austin, Sr. was born in Holyrood, Newfoundland on December 16, 1916. He was the second of four children and was raised on a family farm. His father was also a fisherman. In 1936 he started working as a truck driver. Mr. Austin went to England at the outbreak of war and worked in lumber crews. He enlisted in the Royal Air Force where he trained for a heavy engine mechanic. Mr. Austin served first in England, where he maintained the equipment which raised anti-bombardment balloons. After re-certification, his tour of duty took him to post D-Day Europe where he maintained military vehicles during the Allied advance on Germany. Mr. Austin married a Belgium national, and returned to Newfoundland where he worked as a mechanic. He later returned to France, working several years at the war memorial in Beaumont-Hamel.