Description
Mr. Edwards shares an emotional story of the feeling he had knowing he would soon be free.
Stanley Edwards
Mr. Stanley Edwards was born February 17, 1923 in Big Valley, Alberta. He enlisted in the army on February 19, 1941 as part of the Calgary Tanks holding rank of trooper. He first received training on the Churchill tanks at Stettler, Alberta and for another year trained in Camp Borden, Ontario before travelling overseas to Scotland. In the summer of 1942, the crew went to England to undergo advanced training. Mr. Stanley fought in the Dieppe Raid as a member of the tank crew. He was soon captured and taken prisoner where he would remain until 1945, shortly after the war ended. Returning home to Canada, Mr. Edwards began working at the Calgary Brewery, married Anncherri and raised four children with his wife. In retirement, Mr. Edwards volunteered within his community and to this day is a member of the local legion. Now residing in Calgary, Alberta with his two daughters, Mr. Edwards is honoured in having an opportunity to travel back to France for the 75th Anniversary of the Dieppe Raid. This being his first time back since wartime, Mr. Edwards looks forward to seeing the terrain where he fought and visiting the gravesite of his brother who never returned home and pay tribute to those who served alongside him during this battle.
Transcript
Well, I think first of all, when you’re taken there’s a lot of sadness and then you just grow into it kind of deal. You have to live there, you know it, so you learn to guide your life each day. It wasn’t all that bad but it’s… of course you don’t wanna be there. That’s the answer right there. You don’t wanna be there.
Interviewer: And three years is such a long time. (It is so, ya.) Tell us about the day you were told you were gonna be set free.
That was something else. To my remembrance, I wasn’t even with the Germans when the war ended. I had already escaped and got to the Russian front, just in Poland, you know, where we lived with them. There was three of us – another Canadian, an American and myself. And we lived there for quite a while, maybe 20 days, and so the end of the war was coming then anyway.