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"... and all these Canadian soldiers were stationed in my hometown in Sutton and I didn’t want anything to do with them. They were a rowdy bunch."

See below for Mrs Paynter's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

"Are there going to be fanatics? Do they still hate us? And are they going to torpedo us, now, even though the war is over?"

See below for Mr. Courage's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

"When they started with depth charges, the explosions just about lifted the ship out of the water. This went on for hours. Finally, sometime in the evening, it stopped. We had run out of depth charges, all 75 of them."

See below for Mr. Sygrove's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

"And there was a sign, if you went over there to deliver messages, there was a sign that [said] “No speed limit -rush like hell”."

See below for Mr. Hawn's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

"You know what they had for dinner? Fried apples because they were short of food there. I said to the guy that was looking after the rations, I told him . He said, well, take your ration up and give it to them"

See below for Mr. Lloyd's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

"Then I looked down, my leg was off. Holy mackerel. Shrapnel must have hit my leg. I says, “God, my leg is gone.”"

See below for Mr. Ross's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

"If you were there and you saw all those ships! It was unbelievable! Everything that you can think of. Aircraft carriers. Destroyers. Everything."

See below for Mr. Kucher's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

"I was the first out and my job was to open the escape hatch and then lead the way out. So I was the first out after the hatch was released and I landed somewhere between the two front lines, which was the River Maas."

See below for Mr. Flanigan's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

"So I went out and I found a chap crawling along a pathway and his name was [Gordon] Manktelow, and I got to him and he had been stabbed 26 times all over - you could see where the marks were, with his own bayonet on his own rifle."

See below for Mr. Carr's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

"When you join up, you join up to fight, you don’t up to be guinea pigs. But I have no bitter thoughts about that and if it had to be again, I’d do it for my country."

See below for Mr. Link's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

"It was no picnic, I’ll tell you. Anyone that says they weren’t afraid is a liar or he wasn’t there."

See below for Mr. Andry's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

"There was a shell coming and I knew by the sound it was close. So I look at the hole and I look at the barn and I figure, I’ll make the barn first."

See below for Mr. Arsenault's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

"So that meant there was eight of us and this was a three man dinghy. So we all got out there on the wing with the good float on it, to keep that other wing from getting down in the water."

See below for Mr. Dancer's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

"Some of us in headquarters went into and checked the weights of these German soldiers when they were captured. There was none that lost any weight."

See below for Mr. Appleyard's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

"Their tents had to be all [up] and they threw down their own tents. An officer or a man didn’t make any difference there. If help was required, you gave it."

See below for Mr. Guy's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

In 1939, Canada found itself at war for the second time in a generation. As in the First World War (1914-18), thousands of Indigenous soldiers and nurses volunteered for the war effort at home and abroad, serving with distinction in the Canadian army, navy, and air force. At least 4,250 First Nations soldiers enlisted in the Canadian military in the Second World War, with thousands more Métis, Inuit, and non-Status Indian soldiers serving without official recognition of their Indigenous identity.

Indigenous soldiers, nurses, and ordinary civilians made a major contribution to Canada’s First World War effort. More than 4,000 First Nations soldiers fought for Canada during the war, officially recorded by the Department of Indian Affairs (see Federal Departments of Indigenous and Northern Affairs). In addition, thousands more non-Status Indians, Inuit, and Métis soldiers enlisted without official recognition of their Indigenous identity. More than 50 Indigenous soldiers were decorated for bravery in action, including the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) soldier Francis Pegahmagabow, Inuit soldier John Shiwak, and Cree soldier Henry Norwest.

"The first thing we do most of the time is , “See that steeple on the church? Shoot it down.” Catholic church steeple, had to shoot the steeples down, because the Germans used to stand up there to look at you."

See below for Mr. Boeykens' entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.