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Veteran reflects on Second World War experience

At the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, George Newby was living on his family's farm outside of Ashmont. Sept.
Newby, 90, served overseas for the Canadian army when he was 19 and 20 years old.
Newby, 90, served overseas for the Canadian army when he was 19 and 20 years old.

At the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, George Newby was living on his family's farm outside of Ashmont.

Sept. 10 was the day that Canada joined the Allied Forces as a result of declaring war against Germany, nine days after the Third Reich invaded Poland. Newby remembers how nearly every young man in the area, and throughout the country, was lining up to enlist in Canada's war effort.

But, he was not one of them. He wasn't even 14 years old at the time, which made him too young to enlist. Canadians had to be 18 years old to be eligible to enlist in the war effort, and 19 years of age to earn the right to travel overseas to fight.

When Newby turned 18 in October of 1943, the war was still going on. Just a few months later, in February of 1944, Newby reached out to the Canadian Armed Forces to announce his desire to join the war effort.

“They told me to stay where I was until our farm was done taking in our crop,&” says Newby. “I notified them around June 15 that our crop was in, so then they sent me the paperwork to enlist and I was given a ticket to Calgary.&”

At that time there was no Canadian Forces training bases operating in Edmonton. As a result, Newby had to make the trip south to receive his training at the Currie Barracks, a base that opened in the southwest part of the city in 1933.

Newby was immediately assigned to serve as part of an infantry regiment because his physical stature limited him from being considered to serve as part of an artillery regiment.

“I was considered too small to handle the artillery shells,&” explained Newby. “You needed to be at least 150 to 160 pounds, and my weight was 129-and-a-half pounds.&”

Some of the skills that Newby acquired at the training base included how to handle a rifle and mortar shells, reconnaissance, battle drills to simulate situations the soldiers would encounter overseas, and how to effectively function in a military parade.

When Newby turned 19 in October of 1944, he made the decision to head overseas.

“I went to Nova Scotia to wait for a boat to take us overseas. I was finally put on the boat on Christmas Eve. When we were on the boat, I was part of a group that had to serve the meals. We had to be responsible for two meals, with five sittings at each meal,&” he recalls.

“We pulled out of the harbor out of Halifax on Jan. 2 and we arrived in Scotland on Jan. 11.&”

He then hopped on a train to head towards southern England to receive additional training at a base near the town of Witney. He remained at this camp until March.

At one point during this time, Newby was being considered as one of the troops that would go into one of the military gliders, which were an engineless aircraft that was towed in the air by military transport planes. Once these gliders were released from the towcraft they were to land on an open terrain very close to the enemy target.

That plan never came to happen.

“They experimented with it, and they decided it was not a good idea because these gliders were sitting ducks. There was no defense. They could easily get shot out of the sky.

“Fortunately for me, he abandoned that plan,&” says Newby with a laugh.

Following training Newby travelled with the reserve units to Ghent, Belgium, in order to get closer to Germany, which was where the conflict was primarily taking place at this time.

“While we were there, a call came through that the Calgary Highlanders were looking for 10 men in order to get to full strength. When we were all training in Calgary we were all assigned to the Calgary Highlanders. I wanted to join them. I was told ‘be ready to go because if someone goes on sick parade you will go as an alternate.' We were all anxious to leave where we were.&”

Newby never ended up joining the Highlanders on the frontlines. However, two days after the Highlanders left for the front another opportunity came Newby's way.

“There was a call for people to join the Loyal Edmonton Regiment to bring them up to strength. I was the first one on the list. I said ‘I am going to get out of here!'&”

This regiment played an important role in helping the Allied Forces successfully complete its Italian Campaign in April of 1945, which brought about the collapse of Facism in Italy.

This regiment, along with others that took part in that campaign, was then assigned to Northwest Europe. Newby joined this regiment on the frontlines in Holland.

“We were there in slit trenches facing west. At the other side there was a guy in the same position looking at you wearing a swastika.&”

Most of Newby's experience on the frontlines was quiet. He says he does “not recall firing my rifle once.&” He did go on several reconnaissance missions and he was part of some Allied advances.

“We were moving ahead quite quickly and then we received warning from the Germans that would bust the dikes. We were 14 feet under sea level where we were at so we stopped.&”

It was early in May that Germany surrendered. They were in a position where they were being squeezed from the west front by the Canadians, Americans, and British, and by the Soviets on the east.

They had also run out of food and at this time were receiving sustenance by stealing food and drink from the Dutch people.

Newby was a part of the forces that liberated the Netherlands.

After the war, Newby received additional military parade training in order to prepare to participate in the victory march through Berlin. However, before that day came, he was asked to aid in the effort to end the Pacific War against the Empire of Japan.

Newby returned to Canada to receive training for this conflict, but he never ended up fighting in that war. He was due to arrive in September to join the effort, but the atomic bombings of Hiroshima, and Nagasaki, on Aug. 6 and 9 ended the conflict in the middle of that month.

Prior to leaving the army in 1946, Newby did spend time guarding at prisoner of war camps that were set up in Alberta.

After the war ended, Newby returned home to Ashmont and farmed with his father for a couple more years before purchasing a neighbouring lot of farmland for himself.

Newby and his wife, Izola, had three children; one son, Dwayne, and two daughters, Susan Cozzens and Tammy Bodnar. Izola, Susan and Tammy have all passed away.

The family later moved to Ashmont where Newby took on managing a service station for a decade. Newby then decided to find work as a carpenter. He was involved in numerous projects, including the building of the original Ashmont School.

It was four years ago that he came to Sunnyside Manor when he was 86. He celebrated his 90th birthday a month ago on Oct. 10.

Seventy years have passed since the end of the Second World War. Newby admits that it is “becoming harder and harder&” to remember his experience overseas.

He felt like he did his duty, but he doesn't feel overwhelming emotions of pride for what he accomplished. However, he does feel some pride for being a part of a Canadian military force that was considered one of the most elite fighting forces in the entire world.

“There was a popular saying over there: ‘You want something done, send a Canadian and it will get done. You send somebody else you don't know if it will get done or not,&” said Newby with a laugh.

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