What Was It All For? - The Futility of War

Heroes Remember

What Was It All For? - The Futility of War

Transcript

Interviewer: So when you think back on the service that you did and that your comrades did and the sacrifices that your friends made, those who didn't come back, would you do it all again? I, when we were coming across the Atlantic, that was, before actually VJ Day, the 15th of August ‘45, we were two days out of Halifax. I had every intention of coming home for a week or two and going to British Columbia and going into the Pacific if they wanted me. I would have done it again of course, like they did it for Korea. We had a lot of Newfoundlanders over in Korea. All the Newfoundlanders in the army now in the different parts of the world eh? Afghanistan, where have you. They just do what they're told. If their regiment is chosen to go, they do that, you know. There's no need of a war, in my opinion. Everything should be negotiated. The world is back now, except little conflicts here and little conflicts there in the near east. The world is back now the same as it was in 1913 before the First World War. Every country is independent. I didn't know that Czechoslovakia was two countries. I didn't know that Yugoslavia was three or four countries in one. Now they're all gone their own way. So why war? 500,000,000 killed in two world wars for absolutely nothing. Nobody gained an inch of land. A lot of historic places destroyed. Sarajevo, everything there in Sarajevo, was 1100 years old, destroyed. Now they rebuild and it looks as though it were the original in a lot of cases but the residents know the difference. Ya, ‘cause I'd been back to London, twice since the war. There was no sign of war. No sign of anything. Everything is rebuilt, redone and dusty and dirty you wouldn't know if it were 1913 like I say. All futile effort for nothing.

Description

Mr. Candow explains his frustration with armed conflict.

Gordon Henry Candow

Mr Candow was born December 15, 1920, and is the oldest of nine children. Joining in with the lads he was working with when war broke out, he signed into the navy but was quickly transferred to artillery. In May 1940, Mr. Candow sailed overseas as a part of the 57th Heavy Regiment, and was stationed to Norfolk, Great Britain, performing costal defence for a year and a half. After being shipped to Southern England the 57th was soon incorporated into the 166th Newfoundland Field Artillery Regiment. In January 1943, the regiment was shipped to North Africa. They remained in action until the end of the North African campaign, when they were shipped to Italy where the unit saw action in Fogia, Cassino, Ortona, and Boulogne. When the war ended, he returned to Southern England for a short period and then returned home to Newfoundland.

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