Almost Stepped on a Mine

Heroes Remember

Almost Stepped on a Mine

Transcript

Before we first went into Germany, went into Wyler, it was the end of the Siegfried Line and we'd been shelling back and forth and that, unfortunately they had put up in the snow, these "shoe" mines, they called them. They were little box, shoe box, (inaudible), it was just an anti-personnel mines and so when I brou..., brought the gun off the road, we made sure we (inaudible) these mines, and luckily we had to turn, usually it didn't make any difference, but we had to turn. We took the guns, dropped the guns, and then the trucks left the gun positions. They went back where you call "wagon land". So I dropped the gun and the next day engineers are coming along, and they're finding Keller mines and missed a mine about well that far. This, the engineer called over and, "Harv, do you see my footprints, it's muddy isn't it, huh?" See the tire track of the, that kind a, and at the same time, a friend of mine joined up with me, he was in the 44th, he got blown up, the same deal over in the 44th Battery, but... Interviewer: And you, you saw all that? You'd see the edge of the mine where the dirt fell off, you know, from the side of the track. You'd been over two or three inches and I was walking along the side of it, giving directions to the truck (inaudible). Interviewer: Are you thinking about how close that is to death at that point, or that's not going through your mind? No. Forgot about it the next day, you know. There's something, you couldn't worry. Shell rounds miss ya. You just, you'd be a nervous wreck before the...

Description

Mr. Bevan recalls a near miss with a land mine while positioning guns.

James Bevan

Mr. Bevan was born in 1924, in Vancouver, British Columbia. He was an only child, and at the age of 6, moved to Red Deer, Alberta, with his family. Mr. Bevan first joined the service with the Calgary Highlanders, but was booted the next day when it was discovered he was underage. Wanting to join the Navy, but unable to convince his parents to allow him to join, he signed up at the local barracks with the 78th Artillery Battery - part of the 13th Field Regiment When War was declared, Mr. Bevan was sent to Calgary and Shiloh for training before eventually shipping overseas. After arriving in Great Britain, the regiment trained until shipping out as a part of the D-Day invasion. After action in Falaise, the 13th Field Regiment worked its way across France and into Belgium, and eventually into Germany - soon after which, the war ended. The regiment remained in Germany for a short period, before returning to Holland to help escort German POWs. Soon after, Mr. Bevan volunteered to join the battle in the Pacific; however, the war ended before he shipped out of England. He returned to Canada soon after, and entered training on a printing press, followed by a 40+ year career.

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