L-106922 Private Henry ARSTALL

It is with pride that I write a few notes about my uncle’s military history.

It was brief but rugged and hard for a young man. He was born November 17^th 1924 to Harry ARSTALL and Ettie Maud BUDD and was born on an Homestead in Saskatchewan, Canada.

He was fourth eldest of nine children, with 5 brothers and 3 sisters. His Father was unwell and he had been running family farm until he enlisted on September 10^th 1943. After 6 months of training in Eastern Canada he was shipped overseas were he served in Holland, France, Belgium and Germany. He did not like to talk much about the War, too many bad memories .

One thing he did tell us was he was sorry he ever showed them how good of a shot he was from hunting on the farm. Result was he ended up with a ‘Bren’ Light Machine Gun for rest of the War. He told us how they crossed the River Rhine at night time in small rowing boats in pitch black. March 26^th 1945 during a heavy battle in Germany he was wounded with shrapnel to upper arm bicep area shattering the bone and chest on left side. He was taken by jeep to a building and given First Aid, but they were out of pain killing medication. He was transferred out next morning, flown to England. When he woke up in England all he had were his (I.D. tags) Dog Tags, all of his other personal belongings that he had taken with him were gone. After several months in England he was transferred back to a Canadian Hospital for a while and then discharged with 25% disability on August 3^rd 1945.