Gunner Roy F. Ludwig

Edited speech by Doreen Motz for VW for Gunner Roy F. Ludwig

Speech made to children in 1994:

‘I am very honoured to speak to you on this Remembrance Day because, you see, I do remember…

In September, when you were starting back at school I was on a very special trip to the Canadian War Cemetery at Beny-Sur-Mer in Normandy, France. I went there to visit the grave of Gunner Roy F. Ludwig of the Canadian 12th Field Artillery, killed in action June 9, 1944.

Gunner Roy F. Ludwig was my father.

World War II started in 1939.
My sister was one, I was three and my brother was six.

My father joined the army in 1940.
My sister was two, I was four and my brother was seven.

My father sailed from Halifax on the Duchess of York heading for England in 1941.
My sister was three, I was five and my brother was eight.

I never saw my father again.

He wrote to us from England.
I still have all his letters, but he had to be very careful what he wrote in case the enemy got hold of his letters. He didn’t phone. In those days, no one phoned from England.

The Invasion of Normandy took place on June 6, 1944. My father was killed in Normandy on June 9, 1944 when a mortar shell struck the box of ammunition he was carrying.

My sister was six, I was eight and my brother was eleven.
My father was thirty-one years old.

On this Remembrance Day think of all those brave men and women who fought so we could be free. Free to travel where we want. Free to say what we want. Free to read what we want and free to listen to the music we want.

When you sing ‘O Canada’ stand tall and be proud to be a Canadian as my father was’.

Doreen Motz