Irony of War

Heroes Remember

Irony of War

Transcript

One of the ironies of war, we were fired upon to my platoon and there was a barn and I said, “Hit the barn!” And the guys all ran for the barn and we no sooner got in the barn when our own tanks were coming up and they didn’t recognize us as Canadian soldiers, they thought we were enemy and they fired upon us. And Ernst Wagner from my platoon was hit in the stomach and I held him, gave him a shot of morphine, we carry morphine in our helmets. And I gave him the shot of morphine and I had to stop the enemy, the tanks from firing upon our position. And this is the thing, it would be very difficult to task someone to say, “Go and stop those tanks!” These are the cases that you feel obligated yourself to do that so I left Ernst waving my hands running towards the tanks, “Hey, we’re good guys, stop the firing!” And climbed up on the back of the commander’s tank, one of the tanks and stopped the firing but these are the crazy things that happen in war.

Description

Mr. Swick recalls an incident of friendly fire.

Lloyd Swick

Mr. Lloyd Swick was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1922. After attending Catholic school Mr. Swick joined the military and served as a platoon commander with the Calgary Highlanders travelling overseas during WWII. Post war he attended the University of Manitoba earning a BSc. degree. Rejoining the military he became part of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry Regiment and served in Korea holding rank of officer. Continuing on with his military service, Mr. Swick undertook United Nations Observer duties in India and Pakistan. After his service, he became the driving force behind having a monument erected to honour “Animals in War” which serves to highlight and acknowledge their wartime contribution. He is the founder and coordinator of this permanent monument in Ottawa, Ontario and continues to promote the uniqueness of this history. Mr. Swick resides in Ottawa with his family and continues his involvement with veterans and seniors as well as speaking to youth about his military service.

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