Getting Shot

Well, that's one of the things I don't really like to talk about too much. I did a very stupid thing. I did something that I shouldn't have done. I knew better and all the rest of it and I shouldn't have been doing it, but we had, we had a couple of guys, couple of fellas out laying on the side of the, of the road next to these houses that we're trying to take and there was a sniper sniping them. That was one of the things you never did. I mean these guys were out of action. They weren't, they weren't a danger to anybody. I mean they were wounded, they were laying there trying to get back and that was one of the things you should never do or never do, is go and you know, get past them and let somebody else behind look after the wounded and, but there's this frigging sniper that was sniping them. You know he was, there was, they were on the side of a road and, and he wasn't actually hitting them as such or I mean he would have just killed them if he had, but he was, the sniper was, every once in awhile would shoot at them and you could see the bullet ricocheting off beside them and I went out to help one of them in and, and of course he got me, but I was able to get up and run or I got up and, and had went out. There was a, a fence around this building and there was a hole in it and I had went out through the hole in the fence and I got back through the hole in the fence, but I fell down. I couldn't get up and, but by that time I was out of range of that sniper so. Interviewer: But how could you not help these wounded fellows? Well, it was one of your training things. That was one of the training things, really. I mean, I didn't accomplish anything, I didn't accomplish anything so, you know. I shouldn't have done it. Interviewer: Although again, your basic human nature tells you. Well I know human nature, but there isn't any much human nature there when you're in those situations. She's a, she's a kill or be killed situation. Interviewer: That's a fascinating phrase. I've, I've never heard that used until just now. There isn't much human nature. No there isn't, there isn't. After all, if the three of us were in here and we're trying to kill one another, you're not.

Mr. Carter talks about getting shot by a sniper while he was trying to help wounded guys.

Gordon Carter

Mr. Carter was born in 1924, and grew up on a farm 30 miles outside of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. He joined the Canadian Army in 1943. While in combat in Holland, he was wounded and was not expected to recover from his wounds. Mr. Carter tells us what it was like to be at war and what happened the day he was shot by a sniper.