I'd like to go back to D-Day. When you were on the landing
craft what were you thinking? What was it like being on the landing
craft and all and leading up to that? There's a lot of little sounds. The
machine gun fire was hitting on the top. You had to keep your head down because you'd
hear the "pop, pop" on the side of the boat. In September of 1939, as
an aggressive and powerful Nazi Germany invaded the borders of Poland, Many nations began mobilizing
for an inevitable global war. Although unprepared, Canada was
among those to declare war on Germany and began drafting many young men into service,
including Jim Parks of Winnipeg, Manitoba. I was just a young guy. I started off
with the cadets in the dirty 30's, and as war broke out i joined the
Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders. We thought war was an adventurous thing,
although we also knew it wasn't adventurous, But we also wanted to be part of it. I spent the winter training
in Fort Osmond Barracks, and when the spring come, the
3rd Division was going overseas. So they came along and they took 60
people away, 20 from each regiment. And actually, I was on guard duty but my
brother who was there he put my name on the list And so when I came off guard duty
he said, "You got a 48 hour pass." "Oh!", I said. "Is that right?" He said, "Yeah, it's embarkation leave. You're now with the
Winnipeg Rifles. You'll go down to Camp Debert on Monday." So that's how I ended up
going to the Winnipeg Rifles. We went overseas on a banana boat called the
SS Orbita, and we landed in Liverpool about the 16th of September, 1941. Then we got on a train, and we went
from Liverpool down to Camp Aldershot. We did a lot of training there, a lot of
what they call anti-invasion exercises, 'Cause we were stationed
along the coast of England. At that time there was always a
threat that the Germans might invade. Then we went to Scotland in
1943 to do assault landing. After years of preparation, the Allies
were ready to turn the tide of the War, selecting Normandy beach as
their gateway towards victory. This short stretch of French coast was
divided into five different beaches. Jim and the Royal Winnipeg
Rifles would land on Juno beach with the rest of the 3rd
Canadian Infantry Division. For many, this baptism by fire was
their first and last combat experience. There was a lot of little sounds. The machine
gun fire was hitting on the top. You had to keep your head down because you'd hear
"pop, pop" on the side of the boat. There was a big thump - we hit a mine.
We were also hit by a 75 millimeter. The fellow that was to lower down the ramp, he got
pretty well wounded, and they dropped us in the water too deep. Our Sergeant said, "The
water's too deep. We can't go in." And they were ordered off anyway. But we knew
what was happening, so I undid my equipment so once we hit the water I could be free
to swim. Because, as soon as we hit the water everything went under the water
- about eight or nine feet of water. And of course, the waves were coming
in a bit rough. We lost everything. And we got into shore and
it was pretty rough going. The infantry companies had been coming
in and a few people were wounded on the beach. And I plopped down beside Corporal
Scaife. I knew this Corporal Scaife, he was from out west in a Saskatchewan. And he was
mortally wounded. So i took his sten gun, because I lost everything. And I rolled
him over and got a small pack. And then I got involved onto the beach
until the rest of my platoon came in. The first assault wave suffered tremendous
casualties, with nearly 50 percent of the Canadian soldiers killed or wounded. But a relentless
wave of some 14,000 troops continued to pour in. By the end of the day, the beach had been
won and the 3rd Infantry moved inland. After you got off the beach where it was
pretty messy, for a while in, it was very quiet. And we got into a little village called
Putot. We were there, and then the 8th of June, the 12th SS Armored Division -- anything SS
are what they call the mean guys, or Nazis. They were up against us, and they were
the ones that overran us at Putot. That was pretty hectic for a couple of days, getting overrun like that. You didn't
know where the heck they were. They would pop up and you'd fire and they'd
be gone. They'd fire you'd be gone. So we were in this farm. And we were there
building up and we got reinforcements. We got about 400 reinforcements
the first night. The Canadian Scottish made what they call a counter
attack, and took over all the land that we lost. Carpique, that was a nasty place. There would
be a lot of dog fights. The Messerschmitts would come over and strafe. They would come over and
they would drop what they call a butterfly bomb. It had wings on it and when you drop it, it
would float. And they float around and you wouldn't hear them coming and they would land and
explode. So they'd come over and drop and you'd hear the explosions here and there. You're
just hoping they wouldn't be dropping over where you are, because you couldn't hear or see
them until they actually landed and exploded. And the Germans were well
entrenched. They had the 88's. The 88 was the the best cannon on
any side in World War II. I remember this one time, I was
looking for cover and I got caught out in the open. I ran and I got
my foot caught on the windowsill, and ducked and the shell landed right
behind me and blew me through the window. The next thing I remember, I was sitting at the
regimental aid post with a cup of tea in my hand. So, by the time they dragged me out, they put
me in one of these jeeps with a stretcher on it. They took me back the regimental aid post
which would be a mile and a half behind. And here I am sitting with a cup...
"How the hell did I get here?" Jack was my brother. He was in the same platoon.
They had to go back in with his Bren Gun Carrier into the center of town. And a grenade
landed on my brother's lap - a potato masher. He froze. And Butch reached over and he grabbed
the grenade. He tossed it over the side. The German soldier was standing in a doorway and
it landed right where the German soldier was. Jim and his brother were lucky to be alive.
But as the 3rd moved deeper into France, casualties continued to mount. We end up with a 156 casualties on
the beach - that's killed or wounded. Over that three or four days,
another 80 or 90 wounded or killed. Things were a bit quiet and I remember they put
us back in a place called Bray. And i was along the ditch and my brother came along the ditch and
said, "Jim, there's a friend of yours from school just down the ditch. Izzy Freedman." Izzy Freedman
and I had been in school together. When I first met him, our school burned down on Winnipeg
and they took us to David Livingston School. And the first guy I met was Izzy Freedman.
He came up to me he bumped me and he said, "What are you guys doing here?" He was
sort of being a bit of a bully. And I bumped him back and I said, "Our school
burned down. We're supposed to be here." And so, we got to be good friends.
We played on the same baseball team. And like i said, I never saw him again
after that time until the 8th of July. A shell hit his trench. He and
the other guy were both killed. So, I'd seen him the day before and he was killed
by an 88 the next day. This happened quite often. By the end of August 1944, the Battle of
Normandy was declared an Allied victory, and the road to Germany seemed wide open. Jim and the Winnipeg Rifles continued north in an
attempt to liberate Holland from Hitler's grasp. But in order to keep a steady flow of supplies and
troops into the Netherlands, the German-held port of Antwerp would need to be taken, forcing the 3rd
Canadian Infantry into the Battle of the Scheldt. In the Battle of the Scheldt there
were a lot of water and a lot of dikes. So, in order to take cover from the enemy fire,
you had to dig in to the side of the dike. And the thing is, the infantry were more or less
on their own because the tanks couldn't get in to support because they'd be silhouetted
on the dikes and they could be picked off. At the best, they might sight themselves someplace
where they could fire on targets. They could only fire a few shots and get out of there, but
they they did a lot of support for us that way. And when the weather was clear, we had a lot
of what they call the R.A.F. They would come over with the Typhoons and the Spitfires. They'd
have what they call rockets. And we always used to be glad to see them because one rocket,
if it hit a tank, it could knock a tank out. But we were always so happy to see the - we call them Tiffy's - the Typhoons when they
would come over for fire and support. After two weeks, the Battle of the Scheldt came to
an end and the liberation of Holland was underway. Fighting would continue throughout the country
until May of 1945. Elsewhere in Europe, Hitler's once powerful armed forces continued to
crumble and German soldiers surrendered in droves. On April 30th, a defeated and humiliated Adolf
Hitler took his own life, and on the 8th of May Germany finally surrendered.
The war in Europe was over. To this day, Jim recalls with great pride the
joy and gratitude of the people of Holland, newly liberated by their Canadian allies. Once you got into Holland and got into the
liberation, you could tell the people were so grateful because they'd been under the
thumb for four years. And they are thankful, very thankful. I've been back there a few times,
and even nowadays, you could tell how thankful they are for the Canadians. The Canadians are
so well expected over there. So, we've been back several times on organized trips and we're
treated like kings and queens. It's really nice. So, if you could say one thing to
communicate to the younger generations... So young people, you have to remember your values.
Your values are composed of your being a citizen, the country you're in, the family you're in,
the neighborhood you're at, and the life that you love. And you've got to respect that. You
want to enjoy it? You've got to protect it. You don't get that for nothing.
You've got to earn it day by day. You may not think so, but day by day you've got to
earn it. And you've got to be ready and available if you're called on to defend it. Just remember,
you're sitting back and you're enjoying it, but it comes at a cost. And the cost is: you
must remember to protect it in any way you can. That's it.
