It was just rubble

Heroes Remember

It was just rubble

Transcript

The German marine barracks where we stayed, there was a causeway out... There was, how would how you say, a quay, all around and small boat yards all around this out, outer perimeter. There was a causeway out and an island and the barracks were built there. Gymnasiums, the whole bit, a real beautiful thing. A beautiful Wurlitzer organ there, and we happened to have a guy with us who could play. But, anyway, that's where we were billeted. So, I remember we get, we got there. I, obviously, probably the first ones there that had bothered to billet and got looking around. I remember going down in the basement and opening a wooden case and finding occupation money. And I'm talking a wooden case that deep, about that long, about like this, but of German occupation money. It ain't worth a damn thing, so we'd just leave it. We found a case of grenades. I don't know. That's it, and odds and ends of things. I remember we turned the grenades in. God, if anything you don't need is somebody fooling around with grenades so we turned those in. But we were billeted there, until we got our quarters ready on the ship. We could go from the ship, like on the quays, and there was one road that went up this way. And there was piles of bricks all along that road, and piles of bricks on both sides and steel, twisted steel, and whatnot. But it was just, well, it was just rubble. I don't know how to actually explain it. It was like a building fell down and all the bricks are in a pile. The only thing they cleaned was the road. Everything else was just left there. You went up that way and it took about... maybe ten minutes and you came to the first few houses and more houses, and then you're on the main street. And the businesses were all there. Streetcar ran. There was a, we rented what they called the Black Forest Park at the edge of Bremerhaven. You had to take a streetcar to get there. Well, there's an inn in there, and the ship has a treasury, all the crew pitches in. It comes out automatically, and they have this money. So they rented this inn in the forest. And we could go there and you'd get beer and once a night, then, they'd serve sandwiches. Well, the forest was all there, it was all... And I guess it was tree, green. The inn was there, the beer was there, it looked like dirty rainwater, but it was beer. And, and the sandwiches were good thick sliced bread and usually it was beef or, yeah generally, it was just beef. And that was your one place you could go. That and the Red Cross. There was no fraternization. You're not supposed to go into the stock shops and stores in town, and... But as you got off the streetcar, you walked into the park, on a sidewalk into the park, into the path and then into the inn and there was all girls, all along there. And you asked a girl if she'd like to go, and you'd take her in and you'd dance, have a beer and each have a sandwich. Well, the girls never ate their whole sandwich. They would eat part of it. They'd wrap the other part and take it home. It's, that's the way it was, it just... There was a little park in the centre of town. And that was... people would go there that had things to sell. And I have a watch, a pocket watch, that I had bought in the park from an older gentlemen. And I don't know, it's... I think it was a confirmation gift from what I can decipher inside, but it's old enough to be a cylinder movement. It's not on main springs stuff. It's on cylinder movement which surprise... I had it to a jeweller to get it cleaned and stuff and it still works. It'll run six to eight hours, and then it has to be wound again, but it still runs, and... but that... I forget what I gave him for that. Maybe four, four packs, maybe five packs of cigarettes. But they, they didn't have anything left. They were selling everything.

Description

Mr. Stewart life in Bremerhaven, Germany after a bombing raid.

Edward Stewart

Mr. Stewart was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1926. Following his father's footsteps, he attempted to join the navy, but was under age. Drafted at the age of 18, he was selected for naval duty. Mr. Stewart served aboard troop ships during the latter stages of the Second World War, both on deck and in the engine room, and spent considerable time ashore in Germany, France and Denmark. He also sailed on one of the mass-produced Liberty ships. Mr. Stewart eventually moved to Harriston, Ontario, where he worked 38 years for Canada Packers.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 04:39
Person Interviewed:: Edward Stewart
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Europe
Battle/Campaign:: North Atlantic
Branch:: Navy
Units/Ship:: Europa
Rank:: Able Seaman
Occupation:: Deck Crew, Engine Room

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It was just rubble

Heroes Remember