april 08, 2009 12:24am
July 29, 2008 CBC at Chalmers Veterans M
Tuesday. July 29, 2008.
CBC at Chalmers Veterans Memorial.
Carl Patrick, Angus Fraser, Otto Eurt.
I contacted the CBC to let them know that the interview was a go and that we could go in there at 11am. I had met with an official at the hospital earlier that morning and got the approval that was required. As I pulled up to the veterans wing I noticed that the camera crew was waiting. They also had brought the Radio host for a local broadcast, which was no problem. The more coverage we get the better for the charity. After a quick production meeting we went inside and set up in the courtyard for the interview for the news both TV and radio. The young lady doing the interview was very professional and no dummy. It takes a little time to set up the camera so we had a chance to talk, the interviewer was just starting in the business, so we talked about her young career and about our tour of all the legions. After the sound check we started the interview. These interviews take about half an hour but they use two minutes of the interview. That is the nature of TV news, as my cab driver buddy, Cory Spring said, “get'em in get'em out get another one” that their attitude. .
When we were finished with the overview potion of the interview we made our way to my first veteran interview of the day. The man's name is Carl Patrick, Carl served in the coastal watch. At that time there was German sub sitings all along the east coast. Carl's job was as a wireless radio operator out of eastern command in Dartmouth. Carl was one of five brothers that were in WW2. His oldest brother was named Wes Patrick, he was a squadron leader in the Air force. His second oldest brother was name Edmond Patrick, he was shot down over Italy and was captured, then escaped, then walked out of Italy. The walk took 28 days. Carl's third brother was named Ken Patrick, he was in the Canadian Army Engineers. Then the forth brother living in Kitchener today is named Keith Patrick who was a radio gunner that had seen lots of combat in WW2. Carl seemed to think that his contribution was not as important as the ones made by his brothers. He seemed a little ashamed. I said to him that maybe the Canadian military did not want all five brothers overseas at the same time. Maybe the higher ups made the decision not to send him over, because if they all got killed who would take care of his parents. He thought about it for a minute and said ”I never thought of it like that ”. I think that made his day.
The CBC crew asked me to come outside to do some finishing shots of me getting off my bike and walking into the hospital for the evening news. So we did about ten minutes of different angles of me walking into the residence. We said our good-byes and I went in to finish up with Carl.
Next was Angus Fraser, Angus was in the army out of NB. His job was that of a Bren Gunner. He said “ I carried that thing all over Europe” he said it with a smile on his face.. He contracted TB and was sent over to England to a hospital there. After he recovered he was sent back to Caen after D-Day with another Regiment. It was hard to understand him but he had seen a lot of combat.
Next I had an unexpected interview with a man named Otto Eurt. As I was leaving, I ran into Otto heading out the front door to a dialysis appointment. So I asked him if he was a veteran, he said yes. So I asked him if he would sit down with me for an interview, Just like that I set up my camera and got started. We talked about his job as a mechanist close to the front lines. Otto job was to build a part out of steel to replace anything that was needed. Say a tank needed a part, if they didn't have it in stock he would make it from scratch.. Today we live in a throw away culture, but in the time of WW2 we fixed things. As I was doing the interview a lady came out of the residence and made us stop the interview because I didn't have permission to interview Otto. But she asked him if he could sign a release when he returned from his appointment and he said yes, so we finished up and I was on my way back to the Legion. When I arrived the local newspaper reporter and his photographer were waiting to do an story on the tour. I called Vaughan Boyne. I had asked Vaughan if he could come down and fill in the planks of the interview we had done a couple of days before and passably be in the article. I called him and he came down right away. The reporter asked him some questions and took some pictures. Vaughan seemed to be in his element, he handled the reporter like a pro. After the reporter asked me some questions he left. Vaughan and I started our interview with his time going ashore at D-Day. When I do a interview with a few veterans in a row sometimes we can't get into the story as much as I would like. That is why I thought it would be good to have Vaughan in again, boy was I right. Vaughan had seen a lot of action in Europe. He told me about an experience when he was in a field. One day he had seen a nun walking in the mist he ran up to her and asked if she needed help, she said she was alright. She told him to be careful that night, so he didn't sleep where he had planned. On that night the house that he was going to sleep in was bombed and destroyed. He asked his buddy latter about the nun and his buddy said that he was with him that hole day and he didn't see any nun. Vaughan said that he didn't know if that nun was there or not but it made him think. He had lots of great battle stories. For those of you who don't know some veterans will not talk about their time in battle so I considered my time with Vaughan Boyne very special. Vaughan and I finished our interview and parted ways. After interviewing Vaughan I remember why I am on this mission.
I went into the other room where a bunch of guy's where sitting around a table shooting the breeze, I joined them. It always happens just as I am scheduled to leave a town three or four people have all kinds of veterans that they want me to visit. I wish I had talked to them before hand but I took the names down just in case.
I went back to the RV and made my log entries for the day and turned in.
