Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command of The Royal Canadian Legion www.ns.legion.ca 133 drape over the tank should it become necessary to warn our own planes that we were friendly. It was not long before the sound of heavy bombers approaching from the west was very prominent. Close heavy bomber support was in the works. Far more of the British and American bombs landed in the vicinity of the Germans than on us, even though there were many dead and wounded on our side. I can, to this day, see the bombs dropping off to my left. The ground was going up in the air. The Poles took a beating. It was learned later that the pathfinder planes leading the bombers and dropping flares and smoke were marking the areas to be bombed. Trouble was the markers were yellow, similar to our army recognition signals. This was a mistake as it was attracting more stray bombs. The Germans, of course, had the advantage of being dug in for their defense. The Allied troops were moving in the open toward the attack. The destruction and carnage along the road to Falaise was the most terrible scene I have ever witnessed, containing enough memories to last a lifetime. ‘L’ Troop was ambushed in the Quensay Woods. All four MIO’s were knocked out by the deadly German 88’s. Of the twenty crew members, ten were killed or missing. Later in the war, at Bergon-op-Zoom, Holland, a group of us were standing on one side of our Tank (we were positioned in the center of the town square at the time), when a German mortar fell on the opposite side of the tank and exploded. Another survival! We travelled north to Steenbergen, Holland the next day and into a hornet’s nest. It was after midnight, about 2:30 am, as I remember, some infantry along with us were in the hay barns, chicken coops, and whatever, when a call for support from either the Links and Winks, or the Algonquins (infantry units) came through. The Troop Sgt. Instructed a section of ‘K’ Troop (2 tanks) to proceed. A crew member reported to the Troop Sgt. that the firing mechanism on one of the tanks was not in working order. The Sgt. immediately sent the other two tanks into action. During the battle both were knocked out and 5 crew members were killed (1 November 1944). I was among the crew of the first two tanks that could not be sent into battle due to mechanical problems. The last day of WWII, 5th A/T were on an enemy airbase (well cratered), near Bad Zwischenahn, Germany. Ours crews were sitting on the floor of one of the base barracks. Hand grenades, etc. were still on our bodies. We seemed to be filled with bewilderment of – “What Now!” One of the fellows removed the pin of a grenade, tossed it into the hallway, where it blew up. Following the end of the war in Europe on 8 May 1945, I was transferred to the Army of Occupation and camped in Wilhelmshaven, Germany for a period of six months searching for deserted soldiers, among other duties. It was a very interesting period of activity. Canada – January 1946. My final departure from Germany happened on Christmas day, 1945 and I arrived back home in Halifax on 6 January 1946 on board the same SS Mauritania. It was a rough crossing. Looking back, it was a rough battle. As the years rolled by, and we were too busy with everyday life, the events of the past seemed to take a back seat, but never totally. The year is 1970. A very pleasant surprise was bestowed upon us when one day a visitor came to Nova Scotia from Ontario to visit a son who was training at Camp Cornwallis. This visitor also had a search warrant out for me. As it turned out, at a time in France, he was the Sgt. on my tank. His name was George Chalmers. I did not recognize him at all, as his appearance had completely changed. We always had it in our minds that George was lost forever when taken prisoner. The visit by George resulted in my wife and me gaining knowledge of reunions being organized for the 5th A” /Tank Regt. at Gananoque, Ontario During a reunion in Gananoque in 1992, a Comrade, Dave Forbes from the West Coast had come to the reunion for the first time. Prior to our business meeting at the local Legion, I happened to be discussing the incident experienced when the side-carrier of my Norton had let go, when all of a sudden Dave Forbes pipes up stating, “How the hell did you get out of that trap? I’m the fellow that was thrown clear of the machine.” Up until that moment, I had no recollection of who the lad was on that eventful day. REID B. MYERS . . . continued
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