Haunting Memories
Now 99 years old, my great-uncle Joseph Émilien “Marcel” Boucher was born on February 29, 1920, in St-adolphe de Dudswell, Que. At 17, he enlisted with the Canadian army in Cowansville, Que. He did his basic training in St-jean d’iberville and later trained as a gunner and a signalman as well as paratrooper with the RCA. (Royal Canadian Artillery) in Petawawa Ont., with the 2nd Medium Royal Canadian Artillery Regiment.
In 1942, he left for Halifax by train from Petawawa when they were ordered to go overseas. Due to illness, he could not leave with his regiment, so he left later with the 4th Medium Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery (formed of only French Canadians). Marcel stayed with this regiment, which became his family till the end of the war.
He landed in Normandy on July 9, 1944, and continued to fight until May 10, 1945.
He was part of the attack of Falaise to try to close the Falaise gap, which trapped close to 50,000 German enemies inside this gap. He remembers Faubourg de Vaucelles and Carpiquet, Passchendaele, Gand and particularly Nijmegen.
As the world celebrated the end of war, he and other soldiers in his regiment could not join in the festivities—they had to remain on duty to protect the border in case some Germans tried to cross or retaliate. When he was 89 years young, he did a video interview about his war efforts; never had he mentioned or talked of the war before that time. His visual memories still haunt him, and certain smells continue to trigger memories—both good and bad. Marie-josee Boucher, Hearst, Ont.