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Bill Gallant served in the Firth Canadian Armoured Division as a tank gunner. Read and listen to his testimony below.
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.
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Transcript
I was a gunner in a tank. I was in the headquarters of the Fifth [Canadian (Armoured)] Division. The Division lined all up to go to Barneveld [The Netherlands] and we were right behind. I sat in the tank, I was the gunner, a loader was sitting next to me and this morning, we were going in to battle. And I looked out to my window, the glass, I had a window, our world around the turret they call, I seen children running around in a yard. Gosh, imagine, I said, you know, with the war on, there were these children out there. And it came over the mic telling me that the war was over [on May 8, 1945]. And I couldn’t believe it. And I was shocked to see all these children running around and I stayed there for two hours waiting because I was scared I was mislead. I stayed right there in the tank. And my gun loader was sitting there with me, waited, waited, and seen these kids outside. So after a while, we got out and the war was all over.
