Veteran Profile

ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUNNER

Nick Kazuska was born on November 17, 1919, in Hampton, Sask. He joined the Canadian Army in 1940 and trained in Regina, where he was posted to the 9th Light Anti-aircraft Regiment. He was sent to England in 1941 and assigned to the #3 gun layer of an anti-aircraft battery.

He recalls one incident in Normandy during lunch break while the entire camp was preparing to move to another location: the air-raid siren sounded and German planes began dropping bombs, causing hundreds of casualties. V1 flying bombs aka “Doodlebugs” were first launched by Germany against London in June 1944. By September, nextgeneration V2 rockets, a precursor to modern-day ballistic missiles, took the devastation to a horrifying new level.

Nick, now 101, is still very active, enjoying life in Saskatoon with his wife, Helen.

“Our gun got credit for shooting down one ‘Doodlebug’ while in England. Those bombs, they did a lot of damage.”

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