Letter

Held by

Montreal Holocaust Museum via Canadian Jewish Heritage Network (incl. Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives)

Dates

April 28, 1945 (indexed as 1945)

Level

item

Extent

Letter : printed, handwritten, stamped ; Ht: 27,1 cm x W: 18,5 cm

Scope & content

Letter written on April 28, 1945, by Mrs Arthur Julien, Roger's grandmother, from Montreal. Letter written directly on an envelope of the Armed Forces Air Letter. Roger Bédard (b. August 29, 1916) was born in Canada to Jos (Joseph) Albert Bédard and Laura Bédard (née Murphy). In his testimony, Bédard mentions that the Flemish rather than French Canadians raised him. A document reveal Thérèse Manseau had taken Roger in an orphanage. However, Manseau's name appears crossed out. It is Arthur Bédard-Julien, Roger's grandmother, who eventually became his guardian. In 1932, Roger Bédard completed his Secondary 3. He then had many small jobs in construction, agricultural fields and as a painter. In July 24, 1940, he enlisted voluntarily in the army after passing his medical examination. According to his testimony, Roger initially began his military career in the machine gun unit of the Châteauguay Militia (a branch of the 22nd Regiment), but was later transferred. Between 1940 and 1941, Roger Bédard transferred to Great Britain for training. In 1942, he began his commando training with the Fusiliers Mont-Royal (FMR) unit on the Isle of Wight. His training on the island was in preparation for the raid on the Dieppe's French port, which took place on August 19, 1942. Approximately 5,000 of the 6,100 men deployed were Canadians. The operation's objective (also called Operation Jubilee) was to land an amphibious attack on the beaches of Dieppe, temporarily seize the town and destroy Nazi installations. However, Allied soldiers encountered a fierce defense from Nazis throughout the whole operation. The men, completely blocked on the beaches by machine-gun fire, had no room to maneuver. Along with the rest of the FMRs, Roger Bédard was part of the second assault wave sent to the beach. The Nazi army severely damaged the second wave as much as the first. Without ammunition and immobilized on the beach, 1,874 Canadians, including Roger Bédard, were captured by the Nazis. On board in a cattle train to camps between Germany and Poland, Nazis took Bédard to Stalag 344, where conditions were terrible. The Gestapo subjected all Canadian soldiers captured at Dieppe to interrogation. During his imprisonment, Roger Bédard (prisoner number 25325) had his nose broken and might have been one of many Canadians whose wrists remained shackled for 14 months. In April 1944, Bédard was transferred to Stalag II-D. There, he attempted to escape with six other prisoners. They all failed to escape except for an Australian pilot who was with them. As the Soviet Army advanced in 1945, the Nazis began evacuating prisoners of war from POW camps. It is not exactly clear when Roger Bédard was evacuated from Stalag II-D. However, Roger testified going through a 'death march' (forced evacuation) towards Dachau. Roger remained in Dachau until its liberation by American soldiers at the end of April 1945. He returned to Great Britain and then to Canada on July 31, 1945.

Location

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Genre / form

textual record

In the picture

DocumentHandwrittenLetterLetterheadMilitary CampPostmarkSoldierWarTagged automatically by a vision model; may contain mistakes.

Text in the image

Montréal 28 avril 1945Soldat Roger Bédard, des Fusiliers Mont-RoyalArmée Canadienneoutre-merMon très cher Nico PetitSᵒ Caporal Roger Bédard, des Fusiliers Mont-RoyalRead automatically; may contain mistakes.

Language

English

Harvested

2026-10-17T20:12:41Z · source datestamp n/a · cjhn

Digital objects at the source

• imageOpen original at source ↗2020_14_18a.jpg
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