Air Planes in the Morning

Heroes Remember

Air Planes in the Morning

Transcript

And these buzz bombs were going over and they're exploding and the guns are firing at them, you know, and there's this metal raining down, plankety-plank, off the top and everything, you know. And finally I said to the guys, I said, "Listen, I got a couple of bottles of scotch beer," cause we were given one bottle of beer a month. Officers got a jug of whiskey or something, but we got a bottle of beer. But it was big bottle, a quart. "I'll go out," I said, "I got them in my kit in the truck." So I said, "I'll go bring ‘em in, we'll drink the damn beer. Try, maybe that'll give us some warmth, you know." So I went out and I got these, my case, you know, it was a metal case. It was hard. I just dragged it in quick cause this stuff's flying all over and got in and opened it up, took out the beer bottles and damn, they'd frozen and they'd cracked and all the alcohol had drained out! So it was a big disappointment. But then we went down there and the only thing we saw of the Battle of the Bulge is, do you remember in the movie, the weather broke... Interviewer: Yeah. The Germans fighters finally came up? And we were up in this barracks on the third floor and all of a sudden, I heard this terrible roaring of air planes, you know, in the morning, a beautiful sunny day. And these Messerschmitt, I think they were 110s, I think, Messerschmitt ME 110, I think it is, very radial engines, you know. They look like a Harvard Trainer, but much more powerful, and black, you know, crosses, and they were flying right in next to our window. You could look in the cockpit and wave at the pilot. So, jeez, we got out of there in a hurry, I'll tell you, cause they didn't attack us. I guess they were after the air fields, you know. So, anyway, but they, they were looking at us right out of their cockpits as they flew past the, the castle, you know. Of course, we all tumbled down the stairways and run like the devil for the basement or protection, you know, because we thought we were gonna get strafed, but we weren't, but that's all we saw of the Battle of the Bulge from our point of view.

Description

Mr. Field talks about the Battle of the Bulge and what (little) he saw of it.

Richard (Dick) Field

Mr. Richard Field was born in Toronto, Ontario, on November 11, 1924, where his father was an accountant for Brazilian Traction Light and Car Power Company located in Toronto. After hearing stories from his grandfather and friends about the service, Mr. Field and his father enlisted in 1943. Serving as a Gunner in the Royal Canadian Artillery, Mr. Field went to the continent after the summer of 1944, and landed at Dieppe. Having witnessed battles such as the Battle of the Bulge, which was, on record, the coldest battle fought during the Second World War, encounters with German POWS and the German SS, nothing stirs up memories such as the moving story about the Highland Light Infantry returning from battle, wearily marching on to battle, serenaded by the haunting melody of the bagpipes. Mr. Field returned home to Toronto and married his high school sweetheart, however, the war never left the dreams and thoughts of Mr. Field, who still, quite frequently, is plagued by dreams and nightmares of life on the front.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 02:20
Person Interviewed:: Richard (Dick) Field
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Belgium
Battle/Campaign:: Northwest Europe
Branch:: Army
Occupation:: Gunner

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Air Planes in the Morning

Heroes Remember