Caring for Displaced Persons.

Heroes Remember

Caring for Displaced Persons.

Transcript

But we met a lot, a lot, a lot of DPs, you know displaced persons We ended up, we'd go to their, where they would congregate, put in the huts to live in, different German place, the German home when those people took over and the little, room it is now a quarter of this size. There'd probably be fifty people in it sleeping. And then this pot was outside here and this pot with the food in it. They'd get everything and put it in a community pot and that's the way they were, that's the way they were eating. There would be Canadian rations in amongst it too, hard tack and all that. Yeah we looked after them, made sure they had the water. We had a water truck with us and they'd fill up all their little pots and pans, whatever they had, cans mostly. They'd fill them up with the water.

Description

Mr. McCabe describes the cramped conditions in a displaced persons camp which was under his Company’s care, and the 30th’s role in providing for the refugees.

Eugene McCabe

Eugene McCabe, the third of six children in a blended family, was born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island on August 21, 1923. Mr. McCabe’s father was a carpenter. He finished Grade 8, and like most of his friends, decided to join the army. Between 1937 and 1939, he served as a batman, earning an extra ten cents a day. After shipping overseas, he joined the 30th Field Company as a sapper. The 30th Field Company saw action from France through to post-war Germany, clearing and laying mines, but principally building bridges to facilitate the Allied advance. After the war, Mr. McCabe worked at St. Dunstan’s, UPEI for 38 years.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 1:16
Person Interviewed:: Eugene McCabe
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Germany
Branch:: Army
Units/Ship:: 30th Field Company
Occupation:: Sapper

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Date modified:: 2019-06-20