On to the POW Camp in Germany

Heroes Remember

On to the POW Camp in Germany

They handcuffed us and... so they sat us down wherever they, wherever we happened to be and we spent the rest of that day in these handcuffs. Interviewer: Did they tell you why they were putting you in handcuffs? They must have. They said we'd done it...to them. Interviewer: To your knowledge, did Canadians do that? I believe they did, I didn't see it happen myself but I believe they...you know small, very small numbers, and it wasn't done officially at all.

Following a time of hospitalization near Dieppe, his men, now Prisoners of War, were taken to Eichstatt in Germany to a POW camp. Colonel Merritt recalls that a short time later, Hitler issued an edict stating that all prisoners who took part in the Dieppe Raid were required to be handcuffed.

Charles Cecil Ingersol Merritt

Colonel Merritt’s father was killed in Ypres during the First World War. 7 or 8 of his uncles from both sides of the family also served during the First World War - three of whom were killed in action. He received his early education in Vancouver and Victoria and then went on to Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario. He articled with a Vancouver lawyer for three years before being called to the bar there in 1929. During this time, he joined the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada militia unit - the unit with whom he enlisted with when the Second World War was declared. Eventually, in late 1941, he was appointed Commanding Officer of the South Saskatchewan Regiment, and served with the Regiment until the war was over. During his service he earned the Victoria Cross for his gallant efforts on Aug. 19, 1942 in the Dieppe Raid. Mr. Merritt was taken prisoner during the Dieppe Raid. Following the war Mr. Merritt returned to his law practice in Vancouver and served in the Canadian Federal Parliament from 1945 - 1949. He continued to live in Vancouver until his death on July 12, 2000.