Local veteran recognized with France’s highest national order
Physical scars are a reminder of the battles he fought in the Second World War and now he has received France’s highest national order: The Legion of Honour medal.
“It brought back a lot of memories,” said Don Bellamy, 94, at his home in Medicine Hat, regarding the medal arriving in the mail. “I’m very pleased to get it.”
Bellamy holds out his left hand and points to a missing finger. He rolls up his trouser leg and exposes a scar about 18 inches long from above his left knee to his calf.
It happened about 11 a.m. July 20, 1944 at the battle for Caen in France. He lay wounded for 11 hours before help arrived. He was taken to a field hospital where his finger was amputated. They wanted to remove his leg too.
“I talked them out of it,” he said. “I was in a hell of a mess.”
His head and ribs were also injured. Bellamy was sent to a hospital in England for recuperation where he remembers everyone being so good to him. A nurse informed him that after recovery he would be returning to Canada.
Bellamy, who was younger than the legal age when he enlisted with the Regina Rifles Third Canadian Division in January 1941, would have none of it.
He said he’d come to fight and win the war and he would return to France and continue to serve. He did.
There is another battle that looms large in his memory: Moyland Wood, Germany in early 1945. The enemy had two infantry battalions backed by mortars and artillery. He remembers an officer saying he would take his hat off to any of the men in the Regina Rifles who would go into the woods for a battle.
“Well you can take your hat off to me because I am going in,” He remembers saying.
Of the nine soldiers in his section in that battle he was the only one who came out alive. He says the bodies were “piled up like wood”. He describes bullets “zinging” past him and says he doesn’t know how he managed to return home alive.
It is not the first time his daughter, Heather Bellamy, has heard her father talk about his experiences in the war, but she is still impressed by what he and other soldiers endured “helping to preserve our freedom.” The recognition of this medal from France is special.
“I’m very proud of him,” said Heather.
Don was discharged in November 1945 when the term PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) was not even known. Heather pays tribute to the wives of soldiers who helped their husbands come to terms with what they’d endured.
Don holds a yellowing newspaper clipping with a photo taken with his wife, Agnes, on their wedding day in 1947.
“She was a wonderful, wonderful wife to me,” said Don.
In March 2017, the News reported that the government of France was searching for living Canadian veterans who participated in the liberation of France in 1944, to award its highest medal, and that Guy Black of B.C., was helping to spread the word and assist with applications.
Heather saw that story and submitted an application, with the assistance of Black, without her father knowing. When the medal arrived recently it was a complete surprise for him.
The Legion of Honour is a medal equivalent to the Order of Canada.