The 2nd Wave
Heroes Remember
The 2nd Wave
Transcript
Aerial view of ships on the ocean.
waiting to go in and the battleships, they were there were firingSoldiers running out of the front of landing craft.
and you could hear all the racket going on in on the beach there and back further. But, then when we finally got in, like got onTanks traveling through a field.
the tanks, we just . . . a lot of places we just by-passed them, we never stopped for nothing. A couple of times you come under heavy artillery fire. You had to stop. Then, soon as the artillery fire ceased you get on the tanks and we went again and then kept going till dark. But we had a little trouble at nights there, patrols coming in on us, but the next day is when we hit the rough part of it. So we get up there and we was ahead then and we run in. We took two or three villages, the 3rd one they really taken it, but then counterattack hit, they hit us with a counterattack with tanks and we had no support. We had no tanks. The tanks were pretty near all knocked out by that time. We had a lot of casualties that day from starting in the morning, right until way in the afternoon. When they counterattacked, they cut one company off first and the second one they surrounded them and the third one they got just about wiped out. We faired off . . . our company faired off the best our platoon rather. What was left of the company was two platoons and the sergeant got us back to an anti-tank ditch. We had to stay there. The other fellows were either captured or killed or taken prisoner at that time, by that time . . . most of them.Description
Mr. Gouchie was part of the 2nd wave that landed at Juno Beach on D-Day. He tells us about that landing and the first few hours of the battle.
Earl Gouchie
Mr. Gouchie was born in Amherst, Nova Scotia, on February 21, 1917. He comes from a family of four sisters and three brothers. His father was a part-time farmer and mill worker. Growing up during the depression and having a Grade eight level of education, Mr. Gouchie had very little opportunity for employment and worked in the local lumber woods until he decided to join the army. After the declaration of war, Mr. Gouchie was one of the first men to join the North Nova Scotia Highlanders. His regiment sailed to Southern England and received three years of training in preparation for the landings on D-Day in Normandy. The North Nova Scotia Highlanders have been recorded as being known to have fought many bloody battles during wartime. Mr. Gouchie was part of the 2nd wave during the D-Day invasion and admits he would never want to go through it again. After the war, Mr. Gouchie returned home to Amherst to be with his wife and family. He became very involved with the construction of a mural recognizing the contributions of the North Nova Scotia Highlanders Regiment. Mr. Gouchie coordinates the parades each year for Remembrance Day celebrations in Amherst. He has never allowed his service in the army to be forgotten and the contributions given by himself and his fellow soldiers. Mr. Gouchie feels the young people of today should experience army life and realize the true meaning of discipline.
Meta Data
- Medium:
- Video
- Owner:
- Veterans Affairs Canada
- Duration:
- 2:53
- Person Interviewed:
- Earl Gouchie
- War, Conflict or Mission:
- Second World War
- Location/Theatre:
- France
- Battle/Campaign:
- Normandy
- Branch:
- Army
- Units/Ship:
- North Nova Scotia Highlanders
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