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Description
Mr. Grand explains where he was and how he reacted when the war in Europe ended.
John Grand
M. Grand est né en 1909, comme il le décrit, dans « un petit village perdu dans la nature du Sud du Manitoba ». Son père a exploité une terre au Manitoba, puis en Saskatchewan. John Grand a décrit sa jeunesse pendant la grande dépression comme étant pauvre et dure. <br><br> À l’adolescence, M. Grand était très intéressé par l’électronique et il possédait un certificat de radioamateur. Il a essayé de s’enrôler dans le Signal Corps dans les années 1930, mais il a été rejeté parce qu’il n’était pas assez musclé. Il se souvient d’avoir été si pauvre qu’il a souvent pris la file pour obtenir de la nourriture à une soupe populaire. Son premier emploi consistait à travailler dans une chaîne de montage chez Canadian Marconi au salaire de 11 cents de l’heure. <br><br> Il s’est enrôlé dans le Corps royal canadien des transmissions quand la guerre a été déclarée en 1939. On lui a d’abord attribué la fonction d’opérateur de radio, mais lorsque ses superviseurs se sont rendu compte de ses compétences mécaniques, il a rapidement été fait radiotechnicien. Son service outre-mer comprend le débarquement à Dieppe, la participation à la campagne de Normandie et la libération de la Hollande.
Transcription
I almost got court-marshalled! Yes I remember that day for, very well. Well, it was in Oldenburg, and so. You know I had saved a lot of these Very shells, They call them Very shells. They’re an explosive shell that you fire in the air and you get them in different colours you know and each colour means something you see. So I had a whole bunch of them, and I said “Well when the war ends, I’m going to use them.” And I had a little revolver for them too, you put them in this little revolver you’d fire and boy that thing would go up a thousand feet or so. And then it would give you quite an impression. When it got eleven o’clock, I took those, them shells out and my revolver. Now that’s a Very revolver of course. I went out there, went out in the open and I started different colours, I just, colour didn’t make no difference. I just kept firing one... “1939"... “1940"... “1941". And I went through, right up until 1944, until the last one. And so, I threw my Very revolver away after that and I went back to the camp and sergeant major says to me, he says “Where have you been? ” “Oh”, I says “it doesn’t matter.” He says “But.” he says “the colonel, wants to talk to you.” He says “You were the one that fired those Very pistol? ” “Oh”, I says “I never saw anybody down there. Why, what’s the matter? ” “Well he’ll ask you some questions anyway about who fired those Very pistols because they were fired after eleven o’clock. And that means signals.” Oh boy. And he says “If I were you I’d just disappear.” Mmm hmm...ok. So alright anyway they start searching the line that we were all in tents of course. And so, he starts searching the line and couldn’t find anybody that had fired those pistols. So, they come anyway to me and oh the officer was there, orderly officer was there and the orderly sergeant was there. They come to the tent anyway and poke the flashlight in there “Who’s in there? ” I says “John Grand.” They says “You’re in bed? ” I says “Yes.” He says “Were you the one,” he says “that fired those Very pistols? ” “No,” I says “I was sleeping here.” I says “Now don’t bother me I want to sleep.” And so “Alright, alright, alright Grand. Ok no problem” they says “were just asking.” And they shut the zipper on the tent and away they went.