This reflection about the significance of Remembrance Day was written by WWII veteran and longtime Shawville resident Stanley Hogg before he passed away in 2016 at the age of 93.
Hogg’s reflection was shared with THE EQUITY by Campbell’s Bay resident Lawrence Stafford, who got to know Hogg in the last years before he died.
Stafford said he spent many hours listening to Mr. Hogg and his wife Edith share stories about Hogg’s experiences in the war, which began with D-Day. Stafford said he hopes sharing the below text, along with an accompanying piece he wrote about him, would honour his late friend.
“I wish I had done it sooner,” he told THE EQUITY . “Because he was such a great human being and I just like people to know that he lived, and what he’s done.”
Remembrance Day is a day set aside out of respect for, and in remembrance of my buddies who made the supreme sacrifice so that we might enjoy the freedom we have today.
I would encourage each one of you to attend the service on Remembrance Day, especially the young people. It makes me so sad when I see so few gathered for the service. I’ll be there as long as I can make it, even if I have to be in a wheelchair.
Many people have said to me, “It’s always so cold on Remembrance Day,” but I can tell them, “It’s not half as cold as it was in the winter of 1944 – 45 when we were advancing toward Germany.” We were sleeping outdoors. Food, if we got any, froze in our mess tins and no hot water to wash them. We ate American rations or we killed farmers’ animals. After six months, just before Christmas, we had our first bread, half a slice a day, and later changed at our request to a full slice every other day.
As I stand during the service on Remembrance Day and as I close my eyes I see the faces and remember the names of many of my buddies who made the supreme sacrifice. I can see all the dead, and all the wounded, thousands of them laying on the beach on D Day, my driver having to zig-zag through them and hear some begging for help while you must not stop.
After I got out of the army I tried hard to forget the war years, but war is something you can never, ever erase from your mind. I would wake up at night and try to figure out how I made it home and so many of my buddies did not. I had three different drivers and several replacements on my gun crew. I felt guilty, as if I let them down but I know it is only by the grace of God that I am here today. Edith said that I used to have nightmares. I still wake up in the morning and I relive the battles all over again.
Greatness Among Us
The elderly man and his wife shuffled slowly down the street. No one noticed them or stopped to say hi or acknowledge them in any manner. Not so unusual in today’s world when everybody has something stuck in their ear, talking to someone miles away.
As I watched the passersby, I thought, ‘Do they not know that there is a hero in their midst?’ Greater than a professional athlete or movie star. Why? Because when he was not much more than a boy he put his life on the line for Canada. He and many lads across this great nation went to foreign lands to fight for our freedom. One of these heroes lives among us.
Stanley Hogg gave me the privilege and honour a few years ago of taping him as he told me about what happened to him in WWII. At the urging of his wife Edith, he reluctantly told me his story about his journey across war-torn France. Never once did he portray himself as a hero. “We just did what we had to do,” he said.
He trained for months before being sent to England where he trained some more. His first action came when the drawbridge of the floating troop carrier came down as they approached Juno Beach on June 6, 1944. “That day you either grew up or you didn’t grow up at all,” Stanley said. D Day was the greatest invasion in the history of mankind.
Stanley was with the Cameron Highlanders. He was born on June 14, 1923 in Poltimore, Que.. He went to school where seven classes shared one room. He was a penpal with Edith after he joined the army. He was supposed to meet her at a picnic but he was late getting there and Edith was gone. He never did meet her until after the war and he landed at Lansdowne Park. They married shortly after. There is a love story here if one were to pursue it.
When the ramp came down on the landing, men all around him were hit or killed. Those trying to escape the carnage went over the sides only to be drowned with all their gear. These men, Mr. Hogg, said were his friends – boys he trained with for months. Now they are gone. He remembers before the invasion how everyone was itching for a fight. Now they just wanted to be home. For a lot of them, the war was over before it began.
“He gave his life for his country,” is a phrase that Stanley Hogg said is all wrong. “We put our lives on the line but our lives were taken unmercifully and horribly. I saw boys lying on the beach holding their intestines between their fingers crying for their mothers. “There is no glory in war but sometimes we have no choice.” “We were told to run forward when the ramp came down, to run like hell toward the machine guns that are trying to kill you. When your courage ran out your training kicked in,” he said.
“Were you scared?” I asked. “Not only scared. I was terrified. Anybody that said they weren’t frightened was either lying or a damn fool.” We were no different than you. We put our lives on the line but we had no intention of giving them up. We all wanted to go home and live in peace. No one hates war more than veterans.
Stanley Hogg’s epic journey would take hours to relate. Some parts were funny, some good memories but a lot of it he would rather forget. “From failing hands we pass the torch for you to hold it high.”
Sadly, since I interviewed Mr. Hogg he passed away. I feel blessed to have known him.
Thank God me, nor my children, had to go to war. Also thank Stanley Hogg for without him and his comrades we would be living in a very different world today. Lest we forget. The least we can do is when we see a veteran, thank them. and take the buds out of your ears.
Lawrence Stafford