Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command of The Royal Canadian Legion www.ns.legion.ca 93 Did you ever capture a live German with your bare hands? A big, tough, two-fisted German who thought he was going to be shot the moment he was taken captive. You didn’t! Well, here’s how it’s done. It was a warm sunny day in France and Canadian Legion Supervisor William Eugene Ford, whose home is in Liverpool, Nova Scotia, was happy as he bowled along in his jeep. Beside him was his driver and he was happy too. And they had every right to be happy when they looked back upon the stroke of fortune that had befallen them since landing on the Normandy coast. It was only a few days after their landing that Hank (the name he answered to most frequently) and his driver, poking around as all good Legion Supervisors should poke around, had stumbled across a Gestapo canteen. At least it had been a Gestapo canteen until there were no more Gestapo in that particular section of the country. Mental Pat On Back Possibly Hank Ford was the first man on French soil to appreciate anything the Gestapo had done. But when he saw the canteen sitting there with all it’s furnishing intact, he came pretty close to mentally patting the Gestapo on the back. But he checked himself in time and got down to business. The business consisted of cleaning out the canteen lock, stock and barrel. It was a short move to his unit’s headquarters and a few hours later the canteen was in full swing again with appreciative Canadians fingering the furniture and trying to make themselves realize that this was really France. So as we said before, Hank and his driver were happy. Their canteen was the last word in that type of thing. An appreciative O.C. had seen to it that proper transport was provided – a thing mighty hard to come by. Now they were in the luxury class with big trucks and, in addition, two large store tents. The jeep hummed steadily along as Hank and his driver chatted idly. The show that night promised to be a good one, they both agreed. The day was nice and that canteen sure was a humdinger. Such were their thoughts as they rounded a curve and found the road choked with struggling transport. 1944 newspaper clipping William Eugene Ford “Legion Supervisor, Bare Handed, Captures Sniper” W.E. Ford - Legion Supervisor continued ...
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM0NTk1OA==