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The War Was Coming

Heroes Remember

The War Was Coming

Transcript
Well, we all knew the war was coming, you know, it was exciting to a, to a certain extent, it was frightening but it was exciting. A kid doesn't know what's frightening, anyway, and the Toronto Star, for example, used to run every Saturday. There was a war section in it, and, and in that section, I don't know what they titled it, but it was page after page of First World War pictures, you know. And there was a lot of discussion about what would it be like to be bombed in a major city by modern aircraft, and they had drawings of, of buildings blowing up and air planes dropping bombs and everything. You go back to the library I'm sure you can find and look at all of that stuff cause I've looked at it, I used to do a lot of research there. But it's there, and, and it's pretty amazing, and so you were interested in that. I used to lay on the floor and watch those as much as comics. The first thing was comics, the next thing was war pictures, you know. So, and then in 1936, as much as I'm saying my dad's a pacifist, to get ready, cause he thought he might be called, he and my uncle, another friend of the family, actually, who was a, who was a Canadian guy born. My uncle Harry was in the British army in the Liverpool Scottish and he was there four years. He was a sniper. So, he was the one I'm talking about. He, he was not a pacifist. He'd say, "Dick," and that's my father's name too. He said ,"Dick," he said, "Don't be a fool," he said. "A leopard doesn't change its spots. We're gonna have to fight this war." And this would be about 1937, ‘36, somewhere in there. But that was his, his view and, and I think everybody knew it, you know. Well, I'm, you could see it was coming.
Description

Mr. Field talks about knowing the war was coming, and describes reading about it in the newspaper and talking about 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:
01:55
Person Interviewed:
Richard (Dick) Field
War, Conflict or Mission:
Second World War
Location/Theatre:
Canada
Battle/Campaign:
Northwest Europe
Branch:
Army
Occupation:
Gunner

Copyright / Permission to Reproduce

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