Friendly Fire

Heroes Remember

Friendly Fire

Transcript

What I was with was infantry support. You had your infantry and then... It was a large company that I was with. They had three companies of machine guns and they had one large company then of the 4.2 mortars and that's the company I was with. I'm working away there and I looked up, oh yeah there they come and all of a sudden somebody hollered, they're bombing, they're dropping bombs! They were supposed to start at the railway and bomb forward and nobody pointed out to them that here is two railways a mile and a half apart and we're sitting in between them. The front line is up there and because I'm with the headquarters and the mechanic I'm back here, you see. I looked up, oh they're our planes and all of a sudden you saw the bombs start coming out of them. I hit for the slit trench. I never quite made it. I got shrapnel right here in the arm and I got knocked out. When I walked out of there I didn't even have my tunic with me or anything because I figured I'll just go up to the.... I had no idea what hit me or where it was or, I knew where it was but how serious it was or anything. I thought I'll just go up to the first aid station, you know, and they can put a bandage on and I'll be okay. First thing I knew I'm over to the beach and I then on a boat and back to London and I wanted to go back again after I got out of the hospital. I was in there for over a month. Oh no, you've been in there once, you can go down and work in this workshop here so, one it was just like a jail, you know. They brought your meals down to you and everything. After being on my own, on my own and all of a sudden I'm in this absolutely controlled place, even to when you eat and where you eat. It was just so unreal, that I couldn't, I couldn't be happy around there at all.

Description

Mr. Adamson talks about the last day he spent in Germany.

John Eldon Adamson

John Adamson was born on September 7, 1920. Mr. Adams was raised in the prairies and worked the harvest in the Brandon area before joining the army with his cousin who lived nearby. He was sent to Kingston where he was trained as a mechanic. Mr Adamson had a brother who was a paratrooper and a sister who was in the peace time army. His service overseas was generally focused on maintenance and repair of vehicles with the Royal Canadian Electrical Engineers. He also remembers being taken away from his mechanic duties to ride shotgun on supply runs with rations or mortar supplies. During his service he was injured by friendly fire by his own air force.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 2:07
Person Interviewed:: John Eldon Adamson
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Branch:: Army
Occupation:: Mechanic

Language selection

Friendly Fire

Heroes Remember

Friendly Fire

John Eldon Adamson

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Friendly Fire

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