Description
Mr. Raymond tells us about the family spirit on the front lines.
Jacques Raymond
Jacques Raymond was born in Trois-Rivières and lost his father when he was very young. He was placed in an orphanage with one of his brothers, because his mother could not take care of her seven children all by herself. At the age of 17, he returned to Trois-Rivières to work at Wabasso Cotton Mills. When war broke out, he received a letter asking him to undergo some tests in Longueuil. He started his two-month training in Valleyfield. He spent six months in Western Canada, where he learned English and continued his training. He shipped out from Halifax in early 1943 on board the Nieuw Amsterdam for Greenock, Scotland, to continue his training. He took part in the Normandy invasion with the Régiment de la Chaudière. He also participated in the battles of Carpiquet, Falaise, Caen and crossed Belgium and Holland. He even went as far as Germany. He remained in Europe for 11 months.
Transcript
CamaraderieCamaraderie . . . the officers or sergeants, all those who were in authority, gave orders but no one called them “vous” [formal form of address in French] on our side. Everybody was on the same footing; everybody was in the same trouble. It was to nobody’s advantage to—an officer— he didn’t get arrogant. Nothing like that. He couldn’t do that; it was too dangerous, because we were like brothers. We were all like brothers and we protected each other. If someone made any problems, we had no trouble dealing with them. There was no other way, but it was a spirit of camaraderie. I saw some officers weeping. It reached the point where we were like their children. There were company majors. There was a major for each company. I remember, we had one named Gauvin, who became the Ambassador to Japan. He died three or four years ago. He said that if he could hug us, he would hug all of us, because . . . at any given time they used us to . . . we had tasks to perform. When they were successful, it was a credit to them. However, we were the ones who did the work. At least, they were quite grateful at times, when we got together, they would say to us, “Congratulations! You did that well. You’ve worked well and you defended yourselves well. There weren’t many losses.” That was the atmosphere that actually existed on the front lines. Just the opposite of when you were in the training camps. Going on parade, following signals and checking everything . . . there was none of that. You know, it was really all equal. We talked with each other just as we are talking and there was no standing on ceremony. Nothing like that. It’s just that they were there to give orders. There would be a meeting of sergeants and officers and they would say to them, “This is the situation tomorrow; this is where we’re going and this is what we’re doing.” And I liked that because we were a big family. That’s why I say that it was painful for us when we saw them go . . . or even an officer. The officers were always up front. It was not easy. It was all well and good to have decorations. The officer had to be at the head of his platoon. We lost a lot of them. We even often changed regimental commanders because, for them too, it reached the point where their nerves broke, because they carried the responsibility on their shoulders. But I always loved the atmosphere because I didn’t see any who were insubordinate. But that kind of person would have had a hard time of it. You couldn’t be arrogant and you couldn’t do harm to anyone. You had to help each other. Your buddy, he was your comrade, your saviour, just as you were . . . it was a family life, a real family life, just as if you were in a seminary.