Description
Mr. Toney describes his inexplicable sense of immortality and how he rationalized killing the enemy.
John Martin Toney
John Martin Toney was born on September 26, 1923 on the Neskonlith Reserve, British Columbia. The strongest influence in his life was his grandfather, who taught him spirituality, life and survival skills. Mr. Toney feels that at that time he was being groomed to become a Chief. By the age of eight, he was hunting game to help feed his family. He later worked at a ranch and then as a carpenter. Proud to enlist, the army’s restrictive criteria forced Mr. Toney to renounce his Aboriginal heritage and designate himself an Irish Catholic. He was accepted by the Seaforth Highlanders, Engineering Corps, based on his success at demolition. His first action saw him in the second wave at Dieppe where he witnessed much death and suffering. Agile in the field, he hand-picked and led many reconnaissance and demolition patrols against the Germans. Mr. Toney was wounded twice, and after his second recovery, finished the war as motorcycle dispatch rider. He then signed up for Pacific duty, returning home early
Transcript
We’d go in the front lines for five days, come out for two. We’d get replaced and when I’d come back out I’d look for a haystack or something, climb in there, sleep right around the clock. Wake up and be hungry, look for the cookhouse, eat, then we’d have to go back on parade and get ready for the next day to go back in. When you were walking along there you’d feel the bullets going through your pant legs or through your sleeves. Like, you get so used to that, that it don’t actually bother, like. Like, you know that, I never had no notion that I was ever coming back. Like, after seeing all this, I figured, well, I’ll do as much damage as I can to the people here before I leave. So I, I just kept going. Like, you get that feeling that, then I got, later on I got this feeling that there was something protecting me. So I used to take some pretty, pretty bad chances after that. Run across open spaces and get permission to go in and take out some pillbox or something. It was, got to be sort of a game with me. I kind of got a kick out of it. Like, I could sneak right up and my grandpa taught me when you’re hunting, you don’t shoot a single duck, you wait till they get into a clump, then you shoot ‘em. Well, that was one of my ways, too. I wouldn’t shoot no single guy walking around. I’d wait till I get quite a bunch in a bunch and then I’d shoot them.They tell you, never look at the first man you shoot, though. Yeah well, if you do, well a lot of people like that, they just get so shook they can’t do much more. But once you get used to it, well, it just comes natural. It’s either him or you. You’re taught that. If you’re not quick enough, he’ll get you. But I had nothing that I wanted to kill anybody for, but it was just either you get him or he’s gonna get you. There’s no two ways about it.