English Pub Memories

Heroes Remember

English Pub Memories

Transcript

Maybe I should tell you... Yes, I will tell you about a pub. We used to go into the pubs and when the sirens would go, they had a trap door in some of them and they'd lift them up and the Englishmen would go down and then leave their half a pint or whatever it was laying on the table. And we'd stand up, "Oh yeah, we're going to go, we're going to take off," and as soon as they left we'd clean up their half pint, and then we'd take off. Now that's kind of a mean thing, but we were soldiers. You know what I mean? And they were good people, they didn't mind. If we would've asked them, they would've give it to us, you know, but we cleaned it. When they come up there was no, no shandies or nothing left! So then, the laughing part is that.. Then we were going out to a pub one time and, and just a half a block away, they grabbed us and we had to go in and move bricks to dig children out of a, out of an apartment complex, so that's the first time that I really seen bodies decapitated and, and, and things. That my doctor, I was just talking to him, and he was a young guy over there, he seen a dog carrying a leg out of one of those places at one time. I didn't see that but I did see bodies that, that to me didn't look very good, there wasn't much to them. I don't know how they put them together. It was very sickening, and incidentally, I, I remember one time throwing up.

Description

Mr. McNiven recalls happy and sad memories of English pubs, pinching beer, and helping with rescues and body recovery.

John Percy McNiven

Mr. McNiven was working as a truck driver in Regina, Saskatchewan, before the Second World War began. As propaganda increasingly encouraged young men to join the service, one weekend evening Mr. McNiven and a friend worked up the courage to join. After basic training as a truck driver and mechanic, Mr. McNiven rejected the opportunity to serve in Canada and instead entered the Signal Corps. in order to make it overseas. After completing signaller training, Mr. McNiven was sent overseas to northern England to reinforce 2nd Division. Eventually the division shipped out, destined for Juno Beach. Since 2nd Division was part of the 3rd wave behind 1st and 3rd Divisions, the fighting at the beach had finished by the time Mr. McNiven reached shore. From there Mr. McNiven served in a special force of signallers, working with three others in the division. As the War progressed the division worked its way across France and Holland, and eventually into Germany where they were when the War ended.

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