His Regiment Reacts to Hitler Youth Executions

Heroes Remember

His Regiment Reacts to Hitler Youth Executions

The reaction was to do the same to them, but when it come to actual fact of doing it, none of em could do it, very few of them could do it. We were never taught that way. Life is a precious thing. I can’t say it didn’t happen, but not to the extent that the Canadians suffered when they were prisoners, you know. I know when we went on patrol, when we were over at Bray, after we left Angeurny we went over to Bray and, in behind the Regina Rifles and we had, again, had to go out and patrol and our platoon was elected, we arrived around noon and two o’clock we’re out on patrol, going over in the direction of Rots, and we’re, officer told us to lie down and we creep forward and so on we go over a rise and the Jerries spot us and they opened up on us, small mortar and rifle grenades and things, like this, rifle fire Two of our fellows were killed, and another fellow was wounded, our Corporal Burroughs. And Edmonds, who was beside him, stood up, picked him up and run him to safety, and Edmonds got winged in the side of his head but he got back safely with Burroughs. Edmonds won the military medal for that. And the rest of us, we had to crawl back on our own, we waited until the wind blew the hay so that we could crawl with the movement of the, the hayfield, you know, so that it wasn’t obvious that it was a target there.

Mr. Ross talks of the reaction of his regiment to the Hitler Youth executions and describes being on patrol in Bray.

Joseph William Ross

Mr. Ross was born in Montreal on February 15, 1925. His father served during the First World War and was seriously wounded at the second battle at Ypres. When Canada declared war on Germany in September, 1939, Mr. Ross was only 14 years old, working as an office boy for six dollars a week. Later, he worked as an apprentice fitter in the aircraft division of Vickers, near Montreal. Mr. Ross enlisted in the Army on his 18th birthday in 1943. After training in Quebec and Nova Scotia, he was sent as part of the reinforcement troops to England where he was assigned to ‘C’ Company of the Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada. His overseas action included landing at Juno Beach on D-Day, and serving throughout both Normandy and Northwest Europe (Belgium and Holland). During an encounter with German forces, Mr. Ross sustained injuries from flying shrapnel.