Video details oral histories of SK residents who served in WWII
- EFN Staff | November 11, 2014
A fascinating series of videos has been released that presents the oral histories of 17 Saskatchewan residents who served during the Second World War. Stories of Courage: Saskatchewan Second World War Veterans Remember comprehensively covers stories from enrolling to coming home in eight different videos. The videos include the stories of First Nation veterans Henry Beaudry who speaks of being a prisoner of war and Philip Favel who talks about the experience of Aboriginal soldiers.
The project started when community advocates asked the Government of Saskatchewan to help preserve the province’s military heritage before it was lost.
Philip Favel was more than happy to tell his story for the record. Favel was in the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps and he gave some prime years of his life to the army, but he has no regrets. “I stayed with my wife for three months then I didn’t see her again for four years,” said Favel in an interview before he received his Lieutenant Governors Military Service Pin. “When I joined I knew what was going on. I knew there was going to be killing and all that. When there was an order given to me during the war, well I got to do it regardless of what happened to me. I might succeed, I might not. But I am still here. I went through everything.”
Favel signed up for one sole purpose. “I’ll say one thing. This is our country here. We have to protect our country regardless of who we are. We have to live together,” said Favel. “And I don’t like to see anything happen to our country. Like what happened recently in Ottawa. I hope we never see that again.”
Henry Beaudry was a scout in the Princess Louise Dragoon Guards and he recalls his experiences after getting captured. In a fierce battle where he used all of his ammunition he received a head injury and couldn’t hear for two days. While captured, he insisted to his captors that he could not speak English. His lowest time in captivity came on a four day train ride packed into a box car with no food or water. “I prayed to the Creator to take me that day or to give me water,” said Beaudry in the video. “When we woke up in the morning, the open windows were covered in icicles and we broke them off and drank them.” After three months he and a Mongolian prisoner escaped. Because of the starvation he faced in capture, to this day he can’t gain weight or eat a big meal.
“These oral histories will help future generations gain a sense of what life was like in Saskatchewan during the war, the values that led our country to join in the fight, and why the veterans who shared their stories so readily volunteered to serve,” said Parks, Culture and Sport Minister Mark Docherty when they released the videos. “You can draw a direct line from that generation’s valour to the spirit of the Canadian military today as we honour the lives of the two soldiers killed last week defending our freedoms.”
Favel now spends time talking at schools and he tells young people about the war and he has a strong message for them. “When I came out of the war I came out as a qualified motor mechanic. I learned a lot. I only have a grade 2 education. But I learned a lot when I was in the army,” said Favel. “I was the only Indian in that group. They were all white. We got along together. Young people today should get military training for three months. Regardless of who they are they should get trained so they have an idea what war is like. I would like to see the young people get trained like that Bold Eagle. My people should get it. They have no idea about what’s what.”
To hear more stories, the videos can be viewed online.