Harvey L. Smyth

My name is Harvey Smyth, and I'm living in Thunder Bay. I joined the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps in June of 1942. I had training at the 102nd Training Centre here in what was then Fort William, at which time I suddenly realized that I was becoming an instructor, teaching bayonets, fighting, marching, parades, and all of the sort of thing you have to do when you're in the Armed Forces. I was then transferred to Camp Borden, just outside of Toronto, for training with the Armoured Corps. Unfortunately, in November of 1942, as a radio operator I was riding in the back of a covered jeep, and it suddenly went end over end and I went flying through the air as high up as the telephone wires, and I landed in a sitting position. I bounced and rolled about. I was unconscious so I didn't realize that I'd been badly hurt with a fractured pelvis, internal injuries, and the two batteries that operated the radio exploded around me, and I was covered with battery acid. It was about six hours before they were able to get the ambulance out to our position. As a result of that, I was no longer able to go overseas, and I was then doing some more training. It was then that I realized that this was going to be my stay with the Services, when suddenly one morning there was a call that came through on a vehicle of the RCAF [Royal Canadian Air Force] looking for people to become pilots. I thought to myself that I'd see if I could get that. Eventually I did, and I was in the RCAF. Later on, of course, the war began to disappear and I was up for discharge. All in all I didn't do a whole lot except train other people, and the result was I think possibly I survived the war because of the fact that I was not able to go overseas