The 97-year-old man leaned back in his chair. His eyes took on a far-away look as memories, some bidden, some not, came flooding into the present.
For Herbert (Herb) Strutt of Kindersley, Remembrance Day holds great significance as he remembers comrades and battles over 70 years ago.
Strutt, raised near Brock, SK, signed up for the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in 1941. World War II had already embroiled nearly 30 countries of the world for 2 years, and the Battle of Britain had just ended. With his farming background and experience with engines, Strutt expressed interest in the mechanic side of the RCAF and so was sent for mechanics training in Saskatoon before being sent to Brandon, Ontario for additional army training.
“While in Saskatoon, I got the German Measles real bad,” Strutt recalled, “so when I got to Brandon, I got to miss the hard training and marching in the snow the other boys had to do; I just got stuck in the post office!”
With his training completed, Strutt was sent overseas on the Queen Elizabeth, crowded together with some 16,000 troops. Strutt remembers long lines of troops waiting for their twice a day meal and the kitchen working 24 hours a day to keep the masses fed. The five-day journey across the Atlantic Ocean was no picnic as the large amount of troops meant sleeping bunks stacked four high and crowded mess rooms. “Fortunately, I didn’t get seasick, but plenty other boys did — mostly just from nerves I think, not really from rough seas.”
Upon reaching England, Strutt was soon busy as an engine mechanic for the British-built Spitfire aircraft. In this position, Strutt participated in several battles, including acting as cover at Juno Beach on D-Day, the famous Allied Offensive on June 6, 1944. Strutt clearly recalled painting white strips on the aircraft the night before D-Day and then landing on a hastily constructed airstrip in a wheat field just outside of Juno Beach the day after D-Day.
As a crew member in the Second Tactical Air Force (TAF), Strutt saw action in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and ultimately Germany. Strutt described his part as interesting, as the exacting work and rapid location movement of the crew kept the doldrums from setting in. The stress of high action, however, was not easy to overcome. “You had to have a marvelous sense of humor and laugh at everything. Pubs were a gathering place, you laughed and crowded together with other folks doing the same, you had to. You went crazy otherwise.” Strutt served right until Germany surrendered, arriving back home on September 15, 1945, during a frigid snowstorm.
Although Strutt is no longer in Europe, fighting in one of the greatest wars in modern history, the memories still remain. “Sometimes I wake up in a cold sweat, and I think I’m still back over there, I’m thinking about what I need to do — and then I realize I’m in bed.” As time passes, some details and situations dim, only to come back with sudden clarity during everyday life. “War is cruel, hell really. It tore up the entire world, not just the countries that saw the heaviest action. Canada, for example, had torn up families and relationships as boy and girlfriends, husbands and wives came back, never to be the same.”
Despite the pain and haunting memories, Strutt isn’t sorry he went. “It was my duty to go, and without that service I certainly wouldn’t have been able to learn so much or see as many countries and cultures that I did.” In 2015, the French Government celebrated Strutt’s 95th birthday and knighted him as a way of thanks for his service on D-Day and the Battle of Normandy.
For the latest information and for more updates on everything Kindersley, ‘Like’ our Facebook page below…
