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My Job was Milking Cows!

Heroes Remember

My Job was Milking Cows!

Transcript
Another story about that place. The Germans were collecting French cows. All kinds of milking cows and they wanted somebody. They said come with me with a pistol and said you milk the cows and lucky I was a farm boy. I could milk and by the time I got them darn cows milked it’d be time to start over in the evening again. The only thing that saved me was they were killing them off for beef too. So, I ended up with only about six, five or six cows and I got lots of work. But they treated us not bad. They were German soldiers that had fought on the Russian front and they were quite friendly with us as long as we did our job.
Description

While POW, Mr. Couture tells of milking cows and how his farm boy days helped him get the job done!

George Couture

Mr. George Couture was born in Pennsylvania, United States on November 5, 1924. At three years of age his widowed mother moved the family of five children to Selkirk, Manitoba at a time when Canada was experiencing the Great Depression. Signing up to serve his country, Mr. Couture tried two times and on his third attempt joined the infantry with the Winnipeg Rifles. He traveled overseas on Isle de France and through coincidence this was the same ship he returned home on after the war. Mr. Couture volunteered for service which resulted in him being part of the D-Day invasion on June 6, then on June 8th was captured as POW. Spending time in the prisoner of war camps and suffering the life of starvation and disease, Mr. Couture survived and was liberated on April 23, 1945. Returning home to Winnipeg, Mr. Couture continued to serve in the military and volunteered for the Korean War. After thirty years military service he retired from the Canadian military. He now resides in Calgary, Alberta.

Meta Data
Medium:
Video
Owner:
Veterans Affairs Canada
Recorded:
June 4, 2019
Duration:
1:04
Person Interviewed:
George Couture
War, Conflict or Mission:
Second World War
Location/Theatre:
France
Battle/Campaign:
D-Day
Branch:
Army
Units/Ship:
Winnipeg Rifles
Rank:
Private
Occupation:
Prisoner of war

Copyright / Permission to Reproduce

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