Profile of a WWII Veteran

My mother requested that I post this story on my blog. I wrote it for a class assignment about Remembrance Day last term, and she loved it. I realize that was a few months ago, but I feel the story is very touching. Enjoy!

“I’m still very much against war,” explained Jim Causley, a 92-year-old Second World War veteran. “There isn’t anything great about war, except when it ends.”

After Germany invaded Poland in September of 1939, Causley and a friend decided to join the Canadian Forces. “I was at Queens University when war broke out. They took my friend, but told me to go back to school. I obeyed, and went back to Queens for 2 more years. When I graduated, I went immediately into the artillery.”

“Once I graduated, there didn’t seem to be anything else but to join,” Causley explained. “We felt it was our duty.” Causley went to an officer’s training school, and was then given a leave of absence. “At home, I got a letter asking if I wanted to go to England. I said yes.” It was the fall of 1941, and he was 24 years old.

Causley began his overseas career as an artillery soldier. He was then transferred to an anti-aircraft unit. “We would fire and hope we would hit somebody,” he said, with a slight smile. “Just not our own people. We became air superior to the Germans.” Causley’s luckiest moment overseas occurred while he was serving in England. “Just before D-Day, my unit was disbanded, and fortunately, I missed D-Day. I can’t say I ever regretted that.”

The worst war experience Causley could remember was in Germany. “Just across the road from us, there was a mine field,” he explained. “Engineers were trying to deactivate them, and somehow one of them stepped on a mine. It happened just as a car was coming down the road, so we had bodies all over the road.” Causley quickly stopped speaking. “That isn’t the nicest story,” he said quietly.

War brides were common during the Second World War, and Causley met his future wife, Paddy, while stationed in Southern England. “She was working as a helper with the food, and we met there. We married in 1943, and our daughter, Dianne, was born a few years later.” Unfortunately, the couple’s time together was short, and Causley was sent to Belgium soon after the marriage. “I didn’t worry for Paddy,” he said. “Her father fought in the last war. I knew she would be alright.”

Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945, and Causley recalled hearing the news. “I was going to Brighton from London to see my wife and daughter when they told us the war was over. I went back to Germany, and finally I was told I could go back to Canada.” Causley returned first, and his wife and daughter joined him later. “I was stationed in London, Ontario, and while I was there, the war in Japan ended as well.”

While refusing to ignore its importance, Causley will no longer celebrate Remembrance Day. “I wear a poppy, but I have never been a very good man for joining in the ceremonies. When we first got back, our old unit used to have yearly reunions.” The reunions lasted until about 5 years ago. “The ranks are being decimated quite severely,” he said. “There aren’t many of us left.”

“I was never a very good officer,” Causley explained with a laugh, when asked why he did not pursue a career with the Canadian Forces after the war. “I did my job, and that was it, but I never wanted to stay on. That didn’t interest me at all. I still feel that Germany at that time was an evil thing, and it had to be eradicated, but it’s not easy being a soldier.”