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Spared by a German soldier

Heroes Remember

Spared by a German soldier

Transcript
Ortona was a bad time to go. Was in one house and they were all, Germans all moved out already, but a bunch of wounded sat in there. So I, came the tank was start to burning. I seen, I looked in the tank there, officer in there, I pulled him out because he had half his heel shot off. When they hit the tank, it blew right, right into the tank so half his heel was cut off. So I pulled him out and the tank blew up and I started patch his heel up and I was looking around at house to see if any Germans or any more wounded people and I had my revolver. I pulled the trigger. A German came around the corner and I came from this side. I pulled that revolver and it jammed. And I was looking at revolver and he came and plonk over the head and I fell down, bleeding. He ran away. He could have shot me. And I thought to myself - oh people say, don’t shoot nobody, nobody’s going to shoot you. Well, that was true enough. He could’ve, he could’ve got me.
Description

Mr. Zayachkowski describes being knocked out instead of shot by a German soldier, as he was searching for wounded Canadians in an abandoned house.

Michael Zayachkowski

Michael Zayachkowski was born in St. Julien, Saskatchewan on September 10, 1923. He was one of ten children. As a youth growing up in the Depression, Mr. Zayachkowski attended school, worked on the farm and helped in the woods. He enlisted in late 1941, and after a stint as a physical training instructor at Shilo, was deployed overseas. During his years abroad, Mr. Zayachkowski served in North Africa, Italy and D-Day through to Holland as a front line medical technician. Following the war, and after farming for a while, he joined the RCMP, where he served twenty-five years.

Meta Data
Medium:
Video
Owner:
Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:
1:18
Person Interviewed:
Michael Zayachkowski
War, Conflict or Mission:
Second World War
Battle/Campaign:
Ortona
Branch:
Army
Units/Ship:
Royal Canadian Artillery
Rank:
Sergeant-Major

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