Soldat Albert Payeur

Years of Service: 2 years
Medals Received: Canadian Volunteer Service Medal

Albert Payeur was born in Québec May, 1922 and served as an infantry soldier in Les Fusiliers Mont Royal. Date of enlistment: January, 1943. Date of discharge from the army: August 27, 1945.

He disembarked at Juno Beach two weeks after D-Day, advanced inland for six weeks, taken prisoner of war near Falaise in Normandy, and then sent to Stalag IV-B near Muhlberg Germany. He was liberated April 13, 1945. After a rehab period, he returned via the Queen Mary to New York, then to Québec and then to Welland where he married Thérèse Bellefleur, and worked as a crane operator for over 35 years. Together, Thérèse and Albert had three girls, Suzanne, Pauline and Louise. He died December 7, 1994.

On Remembrance Day and always, please continue to honour Albert and all those who sacrificed so much to restore peace and freedom around the world.

War Experience of Albert Payeur

His Story

I enrolled in 1942 in Toronto in the regiment Les Fusiliers Mont Royal. This was the unit that was decimated in the Dieppe Raid.[1]

I did my basic training in Orillia Ontario in a 4-month internship. My 4 month advanced training took place in Valcartier near Québec City. We embarked on the Queen Mary in Halifax July 1st, 1943 now called Pier 21. There were 15,000 soldiers on that ship, a journey of five days without escort and arrived in Scotland. We were immediately taken by train for approximately 500 miles to the south of London for additional training in view of the future landing in France. As everyone knows, the Normandy landing took place June 6, 1944.

Two weeks later, Albert Payeur and his troop landed on Juno Beach, Gold Beach and Sword Beaches. Advances were made on foot every day to consolidate and obtain strong points. We fought without relief for 6 weeks. We took some small villages passing Bayeux, and established ourselves in the Carpiquet airfield. It took almost 2 weeks before we started to take the city of Caen. After taking Caen, we were successful at conquering a large farm by the name of Beauvoir.

It was at this moment that things turned for the worse. We were surrounded by the Germans and immobilized by much stronger German forces. This occurred in Falaise France, approximately 30 miles from Juno Beach.

After three days under fire from the enemy, at approximately three o’clock in the afternoon, the enemy surprised us in our trenches. One of our fellow combat soldiers made a sudden move, which caused him his death and wounded approximately ten of our soldiers. After the shock of our capture, I and about 50 of our men were made to march and drag our wounded men to an old stone barn where we spent the night. The wounded were sent to the hospital. The next morning, on an empty stomach, the Germans piled us into army trucks and drove us near Paris where some of the French people gave us “baguettes” of French bread to eat, our first food in 48 hours. We were then brought to a temporary concentration camp in Chalons-sur-Marne, a center seriously damaged and bombed by allied forces. We stayed here two days without eating. Two days later, we and other soldiers from all countries were transported into trains, 50 soldiers per train, trains that were usually used to transport cattle.

After two days in enclosed trains, frequently stopped without eating or drinking, we arrived in Metz. Once in Metz, they disembarked us, did a head count and immediately reloaded us. Approximately 24 hours later, still without food and drink, we arrived at Stalag IV-B[2], a prisoner of war camp near Leipzig in the southwest of Germany. We were immediately marched in groups of 100 to nearby cabins. Finally, we were provided with water. The next day, to our delight we were given a slice of black bread and a bowl of thin soup. This became our breakfast, lunch and dinner. My stay at this camp lasted two weeks.

They then transferred me and 25 of our men in small secondary well-guarded camps approximately 20 miles from the central camp. For two weeks we were made to cultivate small potatoes in the fields. The Germans used these small potatoes to make alcohol to fuel their machinery. We could not eat these potatoes as they made us sick, so our diet always consisted of the same, e.g. black bread and thin soup. After the harvest of the small potatoes, the Germans transferred us to a sugar beet plant in Eisleben. There we worked 12 hours a day, 7 days a week for two months. Here we were able to steal bits of brown sugar, which is why I wear dentures to this day.

They then transferred us to Sanger Hausen, about twenty miles from Eisleben to work in carbon mines. We were made to walk three miles to these mines where we were ordered to fill a daily quota of 48 trains, 30 by 36 inches with a depth of 30 inches. This was back breaking work, with pick and shovel.

We were entitled to one soap free shower, always putting on our same unwashed uniforms and boots since our capture. During the night, the fleas and bedbugs were so huge and voracious, that we sometimes begged the guards to help us pull them off.

We were graced with three care packages from the Red Cross during our 8 month capture as POW (although we were supposed to receive one care package per month per soldier). These care packages geared for two soldiers contained 100 cigarettes, a large chocolate bar, coffee and tea, one pound of margarine and dry biscuits.

April 13, 1945, the day of joy for all of us! The Americans liberated us! Due to the state of our starved, shrunken and weak stomachs, we all became very sick after trying to eat too much food. For 4 days we were lost, not knowing what to do and ignored by everyone. For these 4 days, we travelled in a stolen truck abandoned by the Germans. The Americans were gone as they were charging and advancing towards Berlin to overcome the Germans and be ahead of the Russians in the battle.

We left Germany in Nordhausen by aircraft and arrived in Antwerp in Belgium. After two days at sea, we then arrived in London to rehabilitate for one month in Glasgow. I then sailed the Queen Mary, arrived in New York in July and took the train to Québec where I was demobilized.