Augustin Juneau (Primary Source)

My name is Augustin Juneau. I was born on 9 June (19)24 and I am at Macamic, Abitibi. We didn’t know which battalion or regiment we’d be transferred to. I went to the Régiment de Maisonneuve on 13 January, 18 January 1945. We were in Cuijk, Holland, near Nijmegen. We’d spent a few days in Ghent (Belgium) while waiting to join the regiment. We stayed in a castle with no glass in the windows. It was open and damp. Then on 8 February, as it were, on 8 February there was a big attack. There were more than 1200 guns firing at the same time. It was crazy! It felt like the earth was shaking. Then we started moving forward. Little bits and pieces, for days on end, we’d move 10 kilometres or so to reach the enemy, always in the mortar (mortar platoon). I know we fired many, many mortars before we left. Then, at the end of the day, we started to move forward. We were moving for real, and many men were missing. Their replacements weren’t coming in very quickly. They said there weren’t enough men to replace those that were missing. Either hurt, sick or evacuated for whatever reason. Once in a while, every 10 or 15 days, another battalion took our place. We’d go take a shower and change our clothes. We stayed with Dutch people who were willing to let us stay with them. We’d give them bread or anything else we could get. We gave them the rations we didn’t eat, and they were quite happy to take them. There were some young Dutch children who had big bellies, I didn’t know why. I thought it was because they ate a lot of potatoes. But if a kid has a big belly, it’s because they’re suffering from malnutrition. But in those days, I didn’t know that. I knew they ate a lot of potatoes, but I didn’t know it was malnutrition that was making them sick. There was a place where, so that we didn’t have to wash and wear woollen tunics that were rough on the neck, we would try to get a piece of parachute that had fallen between us and the Germans. Some parachutists had fallen, some gliders too. And sometimes, there were still pieces of parachute canvas inside. We used this as a triangle to wrap around our neck. It was softer than the woolen tunic on an irritated neck. Well, then we went to Xanten, (…) in Germany. Then Holland, Holland, Germany, Holland. All the way north. We didn’t just battle in Germany, but we battled on the borders of Holland while going north to Groningen. In Holland, we got a very warm welcome. They were very happy to see us in there. On 5 May (19)45 a cease fire was called. They said: “Only shoot if you’re attacked.” We weren’t attacked, so we didn’t fire. But Germans came with their weapons. We had them put their weapons on a pile. Then we’d send them back on foot, unescorted, alone. During the occupation, there was a points system. These were points that they gave (to get back to Canada and according to military service seniority). A certain number of points were given for a married man, and if he had children he got more. Points for time served in England. Points for time done in action, that was worth a lot of points. Me, I had about 30 points, but there were others who had 45-40 points. That was used for your repatriation to Canada. They left in June. Japan was still at war. Those who wanted to go could fight the Japanese with a special brigade, the Canadian Army Pacific Forces (based on the organizational structure of an infantry division for the Allied invasion of Japan). A month’s leave in Canada, then off to the U.S. for jungle warfare training (war in the jungle). Then, they went to fight the Japanese. We came back on the Queen Mary (liner) to start with. We took it to Liverpool and then arrived in New York on 13 July (19)45. They gave us a month’s leave there from July 15 to August 15. On August 15 when I returned, I guess the Japanese knew I was going back because they signed the peace treaty.