Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command of The Royal Canadian Legion www.ns.legion.ca 85 Infantry Canadian Army July 1943 - September 1943 My name is Hiram Spencer Delaney. I was born 16 November 1922 in Onslow Mountain but as a baby we moved to Central North River. I finished school with a grade six education and went to work when I was thirteen years old, not because I had to, but I just couldn't lay around. I worked in a lumber mill. My Mom and Dad were separated and I had two older sisters and two younger brothers. My sisters are still living but my brothers are gone now. I looked after my Dad for years. He was, what they called back then, “senile”. Yarmouth and Aldershot I joined the Canadian Army Active Service on 13 July 1943 at No. 6 District Depot in Halifax. My buddy, Earl Fraser, from Eureka, around Pictou way, joined up with me. Earl joined to do big guns and he was shipped out right away. I joined as an Infantryman and took my Basic Training in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. After Basic Training I was sent to Aldershot, Nova Scotia. We didn't actually do a lot of anything there but we did have a good time. I remember running races every Wednesday because that was the day we could do whatever we wanted to. I was a pretty good runner doing three miles in about 15 minutes and then I had the rest of the day off. From Aldershot, I was sent to Debert. There we just pretty much put time in. I remember being put in the hospital for yellow jaundice and even though I didn't have it they kept me there anyway because the guy next to me had it and they thought I might be infectious. Joined the North Novies When I did get out of the hospital, I was put on a train in Debert and sent to Halifax with a handful of other young men with a one-way ticket to Scotland. In Halifax, we boarded a ship called NewAmsterdam and landed in Scotland on April's Fool Day - 1 April 1944. Once there, the authorities put three of us on watches - simply watching baggage and stuff like that. We didn't do too much as it was pretty well set up. I then joined my Regiment, The North Nova Scotia Highlanders, but I can't remember when or where. It just seemed like I was always in the Regiment. If this was a few years back I could remember everything but not now. The next thing I remember I was in France getting set up before going into action. We weren't in the front lines, but we were on our way. We weren't there too long though when we were in action. The Germans were waiting for us with machine guns and mortar bombs. I got proof of that on my head where I got hit with a mortar bomb. I was also paralyzed on my left side. Four Friends You see there were four of us guys together. Herbie Bartlett from Truro, Carl Smith from Truro, Blair Bezanson from Mosher's River and myself. We all got hit with the same bomb. I went to get help and crawled just far enough out of the way when a second bomb landed. My comrades got hit again. Herbie Hiram Spencer Delaney Service No. F57144 continued ...
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