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8 -The Canadian ChiMpion, TuesdayN4ovember $0e.i998- 30eyeain ne» 487 Lauier Ave., 878-2881 * Cbanwwjn In the thick of gruesome battie, he prevailed By IRENE GENTLE The Champion Nine medals, shrapnel scars and long memno- ries are what Milton's George Avery has to show for his war years. He was an unemployed 19-year-old from Bristol, England when he joined the armed forces amnid swirling whispers of war in 1938. r He was young and bored, in need of sometbing to do. So he joined the Gloucestersbire Unit, trading in his deadly boredoro for sometbing just plain deadly. t didn't appear that way at flrst. Mr. Avery was an infantryman when then British Prime Minister Neville Charoberlain had bis his- toric tete-a-tete with Adoîf Hitler. He came back promising peace in our time. Mr. Avery, among many others, believed him. They were ail wrong. "A year after that Hitler invaded Poland," recalled Mr. Avery, a small man with nicotine-stained fingers, resplendent at 78-years-old in his medal- strewn scarlet jacket. At flrst, the war machine was a slow one. Mr. Avery was sent to France. There be and his unit just waited. "They call it the phony war. No one was fighting against anyone but war had been declared," he said. Unit shattered Combat found themn soon enough. By the spring of 1940 the Germans had stormed into France. Mr. Avery' s unit was shattered. 'We were overrun there. We were pusbed back to Dunkirk, to the beaches there," he said. "We got on barges, boats, any way we could to get back to England." Mr. Avery himself spent 10 hours freez- ing on a barge to return to is bomeland. He was one of the lucky ones. "We left a lot of people behind. They were taken as prisoners," he said. "Before we left we destroyed all our own equip.. ment so lie couldn't have il" fIce 'he' is Hitler. Mr. Avery sprinkled that simple reference tbrougbout bis speech, neyer for a moment forgetting the naine of ie enemy leader lie fought. Back in England, peace for Mr. Avery was a short absence froro the battlefield as the war raged on. t was ruptured by Mr. Avery hiroseif, when he answered a cal for volunteer paratroopers. After nine weeks of training, Mr. Avery was a proud member of the 4th Battalion Parachute Unit, 2nd Brigade, I st Airbomne Division. "We were assault troops," he said. From there Mr. Avery commenced is world tour, beginning in Africa. Then it was off to Italy. "We dropped in Sicily," he said, as casu- ally as if he meant for tea rather than via parachute. In Italy he helped chase the Gerroans into hiding in a large abbey called Monte Cassino. "We got heiri up a littie there," he said. "Bad '~weather, mud. There was a stalemate. But we were fir- ing at one another ail the time, of course." when Mr. Avery's unit, and others, finally combîned to overmn the abbey. "t was totally obliterated and it was a pretty big place," he recalled, still sounding a little awed at the memory. "That made it harder for us because then we had no place to ide. They could see us and shoot down at us." Mr. Avery talked about swatting Germans out of areas ail over Europe the way others speak of shooing flues. "We dropped into Megarra in Greece in 1943. Froro there we moved into Athens and cleaned out the Germans there," he said. "We were stopped at Yugoslavia by Tito. He wouldn't let us in because he wanted to kill them for himself. He wanted to chase the rats out on his own." Somber burials Deatb was neyer far away. Neither were the somber armny burials. "You'd have four or five guys digging a hole and a padre nearby. There'd be six guys firing off three rounds a piece," lie recalled. 'This was on the side of the road, in ditches, anywhere. The burials were marked with a cross. They put aIl the par- ticulars of how they were killed in a ciga- rette tin and bunied that, too." The tins were for the graves commission ae NO T1ME on page il After nine weeks of training, George Avery of Milton was a proud member of the 4th Battailon Parachute Unit, 2nd Brigade, let Airborne Division, In the Second Worid War. SDiscounts on business luncheons '~'Catering available ù ~Breakfastavailable i ~cFresh roasted cofféeeÛ 'cNew - fresh past now available ù Iç Boyorpiaeunction or Christmas party now!!! Delivery available for lunches!!. 377 Mai"i St. O43PEN 7 DAYS A WEEK 7A.M. - 10O P.M. 878-9232 il Veal Sandwich (Hot or CoId) lq Suice of Cake and Cofféee..... ce Capuccîno ................. Ice Moraccino ................