Breakfast Time

I’ll never forget the first place we got to. It was to a British unit that was on rest period and back. And at breakfast time, the line up there going, waiting to get in get breakfast. There was two barrels sitting there and they were slop barrels. They were, and there was little children around there. Some little wee ones, some taller, bigger and they were eating, taking this waste food that they were throwing out. The troops were throwing away, picking it out with their hands and eating this food because they were starving, otherwise. I looked at Steve. Steve looked at me and I said, “Steve,” I said, “when we go in” “make damn sure you fill your mess tins.” He said, “Why?” I says, “Please do as I say!” So we went in and we handed these, these cooks here they’re ladling out and I said, “oh fill her up, fill her up would ya.” And you know well, “good god what these god darn Canadians.” You know, and fill them up. I say, “okay follow me!” Turned out, went out and these children, I said, “Okay,” I said, “Steve, grab your spoon, spoon to the children.” And I was speaking to them and I spoke German to them and, of course, and they could all, they understood the German language. I said, “Okay, hold out your hand.” I said, “little ones first!” I give them each a spoon food I had, which was porridge and fat pork and toast, broke the toast all up and what not, and gave each child. Steve and I fed them. These British fellows saw us doing this and they turned around and they says, “Oh god we should be doing this too instead of throwing it in the barrels!” We got something going. We fed the children.

After being dropped off on the beach of Oostende, Belgium, Mr. Decker comes across a mess tent while making their way to intelligence headquarters.

Ted Decker

Ted Decker was born in 1918 in Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan. His father was an an immigrant from Austria, and worked in a coal mine in Drumheller at first, before working on farms in Southern Saskatchewan. His Mother was a district midwife who delivered over 60 babies in the area. Mr. Decker grew up with two brothers and three sisters,in a community where a Germany pastor taught him on Saturdays to read and write different languages including German. He went to school until grade seven and worked on a farm until he was seventeen. In 1940 Mr. Decker went into Yorkton to enlist and was denied, he was finally sworn in on February 5,1941 as a volunteer with the south Saskatchewan regiment as a reinforcement. After his father disowned him for joining the army he took an non-commissioned officer's course and he worked as a firing range instructor at Fort Osborne,Winnipeg until he left for overseas on December 13.