A Rare Find: The Tallest German Soldier

Heroes Remember

A Rare Find: The Tallest German Soldier

Transcript

Someone was talking with the prisoners that came out, oh maybe a hundred and fifty, two hundred, I don’t know. The one group anyways, in that particular, at that particular time. And there was one of them that was about that high over the head of everybody else. And someone that could speak German questioned about that fellow. To me, he was tall. But he was the tallest German soldier in the German army. No kidding, I, we were surprised.

Description

Mr. Champoux describes that after the allied bombing of Calais, they found the tallest soldier of all the German Army among the prisoners.

Robert Arthur Champoux

Mr. Champoux was born in Hull, Québec on March 21st, 1921. He lived there until the age of 8 when his father, a First World War Veteran, moved the family to Ottawa. Mr. Champoux had three brothers and four sisters; he was the third oldest child. When the war broke out he was attending Ottawa Technical High School. He left school, after his first year, to join the Army after failing to join the Navy and the Air Force (who were not yet recruiting). He left for Europe July 17th, 1940 and ended up stopping in Iceland where he remained for the next 10 months. Mr. Champoux’s wartime service saw him fighting on D-Day and in the Falaise Gap. He also fought in Calais and later on in Holland where he was wounded. Mr. Champoux got a job with the Mint upon returning to Canada. He joined the army again in 1948 retiring in 1965.

Meta Data