Taken Prisoner

Heroes Remember

Taken Prisoner

Transcript

I was on the loose for two days in what they call Hungary. Didn't know where I was going. I thought I was heading towards France, and I was going around in circles. So, anyways, I went to sleep under a tree, under a tree, Christmas tree, and my feet was sticking out on the sides. And there was two little fellas, two kids, were out there looking for a... we used to, we used to drop what they call a pencil. Little piece, little strip with, with, with black on... black paper on it and a piece of tinsel, you know, and these, when they go down, the, the, German radar would show that there is about a thousand bombers up there, see. These were all... and they were looking for the fellas. There was some all over the, all over Europe, and they were looking for some. Geez, and this fella here saw my foot, and then he pulled me, pulled my foot, and he woke me up. And he said, "Oh," he says. I... he recognized me. He says, "You're, you're an airman." He says. "Yeah." And he says, "Come on with me." And he says, "I'll direct you where, where you should go." See. So, anyway, we walked down to the little town. And when we got to his home, his mother was in the back, like a little back porch, with the apron on, and so on, and she asked the young fella to ask me if I was hungry. He spoke a little English, too. He was a Hitler Youth, and that was one of his subjects was learning English. And he asked me if I was hungry, and I said, "Yes." And the old girl was going to, about to turn around to maybe go and give me a slice of bread or something, but there was two German officers, two German soldiers coming up to meet us. When she saw that, she wouldn't do a thing, you see. So, anyway, I ended up, I ended up there. There was a prison camp there for officers, British officers, big building, brick building. It didn't have a it didn't look like a prison, prison camp, so we just went to the gate, and that's where I met my, my pilot. He was there, and he was limping because he had broke his ankle. So, they hadn't fixed it yet, but he said that they had, they were going to fix it.

Description

Mr. Cormier tells how after being shot down he wandered around for two days before being discovered by a Hitler Youth who took him to his village before Mr. Cormier was turned over to the German Army.

Laurie Cormier

Mr. Cormier was born November 26, 1921, in Moncton, New Brunswick. He was the oldest child of seven boys. His father, who passed away when Mr. Cormier was 12 years old, worked as a clerk in the general office for the railways. When Mr. Cormier's father died the family moved to Dieppe to live with his mother's sister. Mr. Cormier attended the Academy School on Church Street in Moncton at the time making it all the way to high school.

Mr. Cormier first joined up to be a pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force. He was accepted and did his first solo along the St. Lawrence but because of his lack of education he was scrubbed out. He did qualify as a gunner and after three months of training was called to serve in Europe. Leaving from New York he travelled to England via the Queen Elizabeth II.

Mr. Cormier served as a gunner aboard the Halifax aircraft and was on a bombing run over Europe when his plane was attacked and subsequently shot down over Germany. He was able to parachute to safety and after two days he was captured and interned in a POW camp. He spent the rest of the war in the POW camp. At the end of the war he was transported by American troops from Germany to Belgium and then to England by the Royal Air Force. Mr. Cormier stayed in England waiting for permission to travel to Canada, travelling home aboard the Isle de France landing in Halifax, before travelling home to Moncton where he was met by his whole family at the train station.Mr. Cormier took advantage of the financial assistance given to returning Vets and went back to school attending the Success Business College in Moncton. He was able to get a job on the railways in the Engineering Department and stayed with them until he retired.

Meta Data