They lost 250 men

Heroes Remember

They lost 250 men

Transcript

D-Day was June the 5, I remember and we were an armoured division by that time and we were attached to the 4th division and they couldn't come ashore until there was a, a beachhead like. And I think it was the first of July, first part of July I should say that, that we were sent over. And by that time they, they had a, the beachhead was about as far as Caen and that's, that's when we got hit by our own aircraft, at Caen like you know. And we lost a few men, but the Polish were going through our lines to advance and and they lost 250, 300 men. Terrible beating, yeah. They were coming back through after they got hit, they were coming back through our lines and they said that, they didn't mind fighting the Germans and they'd fight the English if they had to. But they had to know which side they were on and they lost 250 men. So you could see how they but... no we just, it's a risk of war. Freddy File, he was the first one of our guys that got hit. Clark Chesney got wounded and then we lost Lambert and Gardner and Cawthra and but you just... You just, you still think about it today, I mean maybe more so, as you get older. But we were dug in, four feet in the ground and we had a Polsten 20 mm machine gun and we were just supposed to protect the supplies and no, there was guys killed all around us. And there was, after the bombs were dropped, there was a, the first plane dropped the bombs and the other guys didn't. If they, if, the other planes must have realized what was going on. If they'd have dropped it, of course we wouldn't have been here anyway. But no, and there was stock piles of ammunition and jerry cans, and they were flying up in the air and, and three or four minutes later there was jeeps running in every direction. There was bodies on the, well people on the, they, they had a two stretchers on the top of the jeep, like up above where the drivers at and they were loading them up and taking them up out. But we couldn't move, we were there and we were supposed to stay there, but so we didn't. Nope that's, it was close. It was more scary than, than if the Germans had done it, because a lot of the people, next time a plane come over, even if it was your own, you didn't know whether they were going to, you know, drop a bomb or something on you. But well it didn't take long to realize, that, that was just a mistake. Just absolutely a mistake, yeah.

Description

Mr. MacDonald describes the deadly "friendly fire" accident at Caen, France

Clifford MacDonald

Mr. MacDonald was born near Hughton, Saskatchewan, on March 28, 1923. He left home at the age of 15, and worked at odd jobs until becoming an underage recruit in the army, 67th Battery at Rosetown, Saskatchewan. After completing gunnery training in England and Ireland, Mr. MacDonald spent some time on a Bofors gunnery crew in England's coastal defence system. He then became a gunner with the 5th Anti-tank Regiment, and was involved in forcing the German retreat from France, Belgium and Holland. After the war, Mr. MacDonald returned to Saskatchewan and purchased a farm under the Veterans Land Act. He has been a Legion member for more than 60 years.

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