WILLIAM G. MERCER Recollections of World War II

1943 -1945 TRANSCRIBED AND APPENDED BY

Pam Weaver (2016)

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March 43 - Enlisted Can[adian] Army. Reported to the “Hor[s]e Palace” at Toronto Exhibition grounds.

The “Horse Palace” was a building which housed horse stall[s] for horse[s] being shown at the ex. I

believe each stall accommodated 2 soldiers.

http://www.horsepalace.ca/history/

After a few week[s] there, we went [to] Brant[f]ord, ON for 6 weeks basic training. Next stop was Camp

Borden for 3 months. (located 80 km northwest of Toronto)

Aug 23/43 - We left Camp Borden by train to Halifax, NS where we immediately boarded the “Queen

Mary” and left by morning for England arriving there on Sept. 1/43.

Painted grey for the war and nicknamed “The Grey Ghost. http://www.skylighters.org/special/queenmary/qmphotos.html#ft

Dates Route Mileage Passage Speed Voyage Captain Notes

T=Troops, P=Passengers

C=Crew

Aug 27, 1943 to Aug 31, 1943

New York to Gourock

2,607 3 days, 23 hours,

18 minutes

27.36k WW #24E Bisset 15,116(T), 937(C)

Since the “Queen Mary” was too fast for escort ships she traveled alone. I believe it was 3 nights & 2

days or vice versa for the crossing.

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For those that don’t know about the “Queen Mary” she was I believe the biggest luxury passenger ship

of the day. She was reported to carry 19,000 to 21,000 troops on each trip. Just imagine that she could

tare everyone from Owen Sound in on[e] trip. She is now a hotel & tourist attraction in California. Next

year was just normal training. Since I wasn’t a beer drinker I went to a show sometimes as many a[s] 5

shows on a Sunday. Not very exciting.

Summer of 44 – “D” Day happened on June 8. I believe, according to my diary, I went to France on July

18/44. Now this is very strange as I have absolutely no memory of how I got across the English Channel

to inland France!! Weird.

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On Aug 3/44 - I joined the Es[s]ex Scottish [Regiment]. I was just part of the reinforcement units [un]til

then. My first taste of battle came soon after. Some dead or wounded but I was ok. Next memory was

when the Essex Scottish went to Dieppe but no fighting. Germans had pulled out. This is where the

Essex Scottish along with other regiments had suffered extreme casualt[ies] in 1942 with raid on Dieppe.

Had to listen to the bagpipe band for several hours. Never heard them before. Still don’t really like

them. Not eno[u]gh Scotch in me.

Next few months no heavy skirmishes for me. Strafed by own planes one time. One time just had my

fox hole dug deep enough for basic cover when mortar (Page 4) shell landed a few feet away and

riddle[d] my battle jacket with holes. Better that than me!

Another time while near a farmer’s garden as the sun came up I reached for a nice big cucumber. A shot

too close to my fingers changed my mind. Around the same time while down for the night we woke up

with a big explosion under a railway overpass. The roadway had been mined at night and first thing in

the morning some civilians came along on the way to work and tripped the mines (terrible mess).

At Ostend in Belgium our only casualty was a First Aid soldier [who] was shot and killed while going to

aid German casualties after they had surrendered. He was buried in church graveyard. I was a

pallbearer. Shooting at First Aid people is a “no no” by all soldiers.

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Next was a rest stop at Antwerp Belgium. Germans had already left. City wasn’t damaged in area we

were in. Big wide avenues. Good ice cream! While there, 7 of us were sent out to occupy a former

German dugout and stay till relieved at dusk. However, what we thought was our relief was Germans

surrounding us.1

When the skirmish was over our Corporal was dead and another badly injured by grenade. The rest of

us were taken Prisoner of War. If the German who caught me was a Hitler Youth soldier, he would have

cut me in half with his automatic rifle from 3 feet away.

We were taken away under close guard while helping our injured soldier to German territory. Spent

that night locked in a jail cell 7 ft by 4 ft. Very anxious as to what was going to happen to us. However,

we were not treated badly as the Germans recognized [us] as P.O.W.s.

From then on we were marched or trans[p]orted in freight cars across Holland into Germany and ended

up (Page 6) in Poland. While traveling in their small freight cars we would often be stopped for long

periods of time and not allowed out.

There were maybe 30 or 40 in a car so there was no room to lie down. Very little food or water and

sanitation was a pail in the corner. Very miserable conditions.

Was taken prisoner Sept 28th/44 and after several POW camps arrived at Stargard on Nov. 7/44. This

was a well-established camp and was mainly occupied by Canadians taken POW at Dieppe in France in

1942.

We were given pretty good food & cigarettes as they had been getting Red Cross food parcels and also

parcels from home for some time.

We were settled in for some time with regular Army rules with Roll Calls, etc. Camp food was much to

be desired with mainly barley soup, potatoes, and black bread and artificial jam occasionally. Mainly

Canadians with some USA & British.

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Jan/45 – Went to a working camp at a large farm where I went out every day with a small group to work

in [the] bush cutting trees. While cutting down a tree no one yelled to warn our Army guards so they

always got their butts whacked. They never came with us again. They were replaced by an elderly 5 ft.

civvy [civilian] with a tiny old rifle.

We were bedded down at night in a barrack type building where we were fed the usual potatoes &

barley & black bread. Lighting usually went off early so our light was supplied by burning pitch from

some kind of pine trees. Not much but lots of smoke.

On Feb 26/45 with Russian troops coming near, all POW camps were ordered to pack up our belongings

and had to march west.

There were thousands of POWs moving across Germany in groups of probably 50 or so. Hundreds [were

moving] and sleeping in famer barns & ha[y] lofts.

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Hundreds did not survive the cold winter weather. Some fell by the wayside and had to be left there. I

was one of the lucky ones.

Altogether we walked for forty-nine days from Stargard in Poland to Salzwedal in Germany where we

were liberated by USA troops and taken to Hanover to be flown back to England.

Free at last! For 1 day!! At my medical, it was found that I had TB. I was put in Canadian hospital at

Lady Astor’s Cliveden estate2 and confined to bed.

http://www.crcmh.com/crcmhaerial.jpg

On June 7th, left for Canada on the “Letitia” hospital [ship] and arrived in Halifax June 16th.

Letitia as a hospital ship arriving at Pier 21 in Halifax

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pier_21

Left [Halifax] June 17th, arrived in Toronto June 19th and was put in military hospital in Weston. [In

hospital] for 13 months, plus 6 months no work plus 6 more months ½ time work. Finally, free!

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I must pay tribute to the Red Cross. After being taken POW the Red Cross kept track of all POW’s and

notified our next of kin as to our whereabouts. After being captured I was listed as being missing in

action. Later presumed a POW. Parent notified by Red Cross as being a POW.

I feel that if it wasn’t for the Red Cross that perhaps I wouldn’t have [survived] the march as they

supplied us with food parcel along the way.

1 The following corroborates Mercer’s memories: “The next battle for Falaise involved the Essex Scottish on 7-8

August in a night attack of Caillouet mounted in armoured personnel carriers. …they continued the advance down the road to Falaise. After that the German resistance lessened and the advance continued across the Seine River at Pont du Gravier then north toward Dieppe. On 3 September 1944 the Essex Scottish entered Dieppe as heroes. They paused at the graves of those who had fallen in 1942, took part in a Divisional march past and toured the killing grounds.

“On the night of 20 September, on the outskirts of Antwerp a large German fighting patrol got into 'D' Company's area…” http://www.army-armee.forces.gc.ca/en/essex-kent-scottish/history.page

2 “In September 1939 with the outbreak of World War II Waldorf Astor again offered the use of the land at a rent of one shilling per year to the Canadian Red Cross and the Canadian Red Cross Memorial Hospital was built…” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliveden