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Discharge and Disillusionment

A personal, transcendental moment of illusion infused my being on that most glorious of days when, after over 5 years of restrictive service in Canada’s overseas military services, I was discharged. It was July 24, 1945. That day was magnificent. It was the high point of all time. It was the first day of a magical period. The menace of Hitler had been laid to rest. In 2 . . .

Sentimental Journey Continued

Thursday, Sept 27^th 1945

Rotterdam Harbor -- The Netherlands

Though   rather inaccessible, Bremen is the only   German Atlantic sea port.   In September of 1945 the Nuremberg trials were looming in the coming year and   Rotterdam, Holland   had become the most convenient sea port for the panicky Nazi hierarchy to flee from Europe. The r . . .

Sentimental Journey Continued

Friday, September 28th, 1945

Rotterdam Harbor, The Netherlands

On Friday we were paid our wage of $50 each for our one-way trip (18 days).  Then Dave Miller and I went to an Information Office, where we were sent to the USWSA (United States Wartime Shipping Administration). They had already been told about us but could not help us. However, a Captain Sc . . .

Sentimental Journey Consummated

October 3, 1945–April 16, 1946

Manchester, Lancashire, Great Britain

The Batavia II docked at Gravesend, and via London, I took the train to Manchester. Joan and I must have met again as strangers; I don’t recall. The Doe home had a bedroom for me.

Less than four months post-WWII, Manchester was an uninviting city. As an industrial city, a co . . .

MIPUGU — The Ogre of War

Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was the supreme commander of the Allied Forces that defeated Hitler’s Nazi regime. His masterful grasp of the myriad of details involved was unlimited. In his book Crusade in Europe he speaks of his 1945 visit to a “horror camp near the town of Gotha.” The “indisputable evidence of the Nazi brutality and reckless disregard of every sense of decency,� . . .