End of War Reaction

Heroes Remember

End of War Reaction

Transcript

Interviewer: Eventually the war ended, May of 1945. Do you remember your reaction and that of your family? Oh sure! Of course! By this time I was married. I had gotten married in the forces, while I was in Suffield as a matter of fact, we got married. And so I was really happy, my husband would be coming home sometime, my brother would be coming home and yeah it was, it was like a great big relief, saying, "Oh our brother will be home", you know. Cause he had gotten through, cause he went through all the theatres of war. He went through Africa, Italy, you name it; Germany, Holland and all that. You know he started in England and ended up in Holland so we were glad to have him home and all in one piece. But he wasn't really. Well, his body was in was one piece, his physical being was not. Like he had contacted malaria and he was under fire so much he's had a bit of a, not a mental problem per say, but very, very tense person. I remember the first time we, he was home just for a few days, we decided to go out and celebrate a little bit and we only had outdoor bathrooms at where we were and we were standing outside just talking, you know and stuff. He was on his way to the bathroom, there was a plane flew over, you could hear this plane coming and flying over and he's looking around, looking around and I'm wondering why is it he's looking around. And when the plane came quite loud over the top of us, he just dove right into the dirt. I mean just reaction from the... cause he hadn't been home that long and your just... It was scary, it was frightening to us to see his reaction like that. He never talked about his, I shouldn't say he never, he would start to tell you something about it, he'd just get into whatever it was he was gonna talk about and he wouldn't... he'd just stop, he wouldn't tell ya anymore. It was just too difficult for him to live through it again.

Description

Ms. Dion discusses her reaction as well as the reaction of her family to the end of the war.

Theresa Evelyn Dion

Ms. Dion was born in a little village about 45 km west of Edmonton in March of 1924. Her father had a small farm about one mile outside the village where he raised animals to provide food for his family. He also sold some animals as a means of income. Ms. Dion comes from a family of 7 and had two older brothers who served in the Second World War. She attended a one-room school for Grades 1 through 8 and then went to Edmonton to further her education. She joined the Canadian Women's Army Corps in February of 1942 and after completing basic training was stationed in Suffield, Alberta. She met and married her husband while she was stationed in Suffield. After they were married he went overseas to serve his country. In the Fall of 1944, while stationed in Calgary, she received a medical discharge.

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