Reaction of German Nationals

Heroes Remember

Reaction of German Nationals

Transcript

Interviewer: What was the reaction of the German nationals that would come into contact with the Canadians? Well remember this wasn't that, that long after the war, I, we lived in the place it told you about, for about 6 months and then moved to a new apartment, in a little village called Langscheid, overlooking the Sorpesee. Fascinating place, because this was one of the alternates bombing spots of the dam busters, they blew the (inaudible) dam, to flood the Mohne Valley and in this case they tried to do the same thing, but it was an earthen dam, therefore the earthquake effect wouldn't work. The year after we left they in fact drained the Sorpe to pull the remains of a Lancaster out of there. All that to say that our landlord, Spica was 13 years old, when these events were happening and would talk about it in his broken English, his wife spoke better English. We were accepted as were many other Canadians in the villages, because they had to live somewhere and we were a source of income. You know, we didn't think it was that much money, I shouldn't say that really, because we didn't get, much more, much, a large allowance, but we did get enough to live on and the rent we were paying, the Germans thought it was great. I also joined the local chess club to talk to, to try and talk to a few people. Two things came out of that, it only lasted 3 months, one, I only won, one game and I think the school teacher was being nice to me and secondly I never met any of the German males there, and some of them had, obviously had suffered injuries in the war, that fought on the western front, they wouldn't admit it.

Description

Mr.Ethell talks about the reaction of the German nationals with whom he had contact while serving with NATO in Germany between 1962 and 1963.

Donald Stewart Ethell

Donald Stewart Ethell was born in July 1937 and was raised in Victoria, BC. His father was a Veteran of both the First and Second World Wars. His mother was a nurse. He and his sister attended boarding school because of his parents' jobs and he was only home at Christmas and during the summer. His mother passed away when Mr. Ethell was 10 years old.

When he enlisted, Mr. Ethell joined the Queen's Own Rifles in Calgary. After several years of serving as an infantryman he was recommended for the officer training. Mr. Ethell graduated from the program and rose to the rank of Colonel. He went on to command Canadian, and United Nations, forces in various missions all over the world. In the mid 1990s, Col. Ethell retired with over thirty-five years of distinguished service.

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