We fought and saved each other’s lives

Heroes Remember

We fought and saved each other’s lives

Transcript

Actually, I was disappointed. Home was not home at all anymore. Friends I knew and had were all gone. They had joined the war, too, of course. Either they weren't home, or they were dead, or they went other places. My mother and dad, well, they didn't seem the same, but they were, they were. I guess it was me. It's, it's, it's the soldier himself that changes. Your whole attitude changes because they, they train you that way. They train you to be a soldier, to go out and fight and do things like that. And I come from a fairly religious background. Certainly, there was no drinking, or, or, well in those days drinking wasn't the same as it is today anyway. But there was no drinking and all that, and went to church twice on Sunday, and I come back and everybody wasn't doing that. And everybody was having a drink and smoking and going to church once in a while, maybe, and that part of life was real different. Really different. I don't know, just everything, everything, everybody was different. And maybe it wasn't them that was different, maybe it was me, and I thinks that's where it is, that I was different. I lived with a bunch of men for over five, five and a half years, never was home. Just went with a bunch of strangers, and all become friends and fought and saved each other’s lives, and I missed that comradeship. That's where it was. You're always with a bunch of friends. And I go out, out to schools and, and give talks and things. We covered 33 schools this last fall, which is quite a few. Nine people did that. I want them to know what we did that they can be thankful for what they've got, thankful to us for keeping, getting it, and keeping it for them. Otherwise, we could have all wound up like Germans and dictators and whatnot. And the kiddies over there from this high had, were put into Nazi schools and whatnot, and I just can't see that happening in my country. And I try to get that to them and hope they'll fight to protect their freedom, what they got now, that we hope we gave them. And that war is terrible, of course.

Description

Mr. Hall reflects on how people change during wartime, and making today's children aware of the contribution of Veterans to their freedom.

John Hall

Mr. Hall was born in Whitewood, Saskatchewan, in 1921. He worked on the family's farm until he enlisted in the Royal Regina Rifles. He was shipped overseas on a converted sugar freighter. Once in England, Mr. Hall experienced the Battle of Britain from the perspective of the local citizenry. He spent more land duty in a mail sorting depot until his Regiment joined the D-Day invasion at Juno Beach. He was a radio operator. Mr. Hall took part in numerous actions, most notably Caen, Calais and the Leopold Canal and the Liberation of Holland. After leaving the Army, Mr. Hall worked in the Canadian North with the Department of Natural Resources.

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