William 'Bill' Seifried wasn’t supposed to carry a Lee Enfield rifle to the front lines in the fall of 1944.
After all, it was artillery the then 18-year-old was trained on at Petawawa before being deployed to Europe.
Placed with the Canadian Regina Rifles Regiment, Seifried was on his way to London, England, soon to be informed he was being sent to the front in France as infantry, without any training as a rifleman.
In just one week, Seifried remembers landing in France. “Bullets fell like rain when we landed in Normandy,” he said.
“We were in small boats. The Germans were on the other side of the hill. It was terrible. So many people died. My major asked if I could go out and see how many fellas lost their lives. I counted 24 just that night.”
The 77-year legion member, and current member of Branch 234 in Guelph, will head to Juno Beach on June 3 and attend the 80th anniversary of D-Day in France.
One of three living Regina Rifle veterans, Seifried, 99, is the only one able to be present for the unveiling of the special statue honouring the regiment on June 5.
With his uniform neatly laid out, displaying an array of honours including a French Foreign Legion Honour medal, Seifried shares an emotional smile.
“I was one of nine children on a farm in Ariss. Look at my life from there,” he said.
The Regina Rifles fought in France before moving through Belgium, at the Leopold Canal, eventually helping to liberate Holland before pushing forward into Germany.
“I have never been back since the war. For me, I am looking forward to seeing the old sites again. Seeing the places that I’ve been to but being lucky enough to come home. I want to see it peaceful, and beautiful,” Seifried said.
Facing fierce German resistance, Seifried vividly remembers the battle that lasted for more than a week and claimed the lives of many.
He recalls crossing the canal in rafts at night, flame throwers, machine guns and grenades landing.
“Some guys lost their minds and had to come home,” he said.
Seifried will travel to France next month with his daughter, Lynda Gilham, who sees her father as a hero.
“He lived in those trenches most of the time. A grenade came right into the trench. My dad was so quick, he grabbed it, threw it back and saved everyone right then. But soon after, his sergeant was shot and died by his side,” she said.
Seifried kept a notebook on his travels with all of the names of the places he visited.
But it wasn’t until 2014, when he shared his story on an episode of the documentary series 'War Story', that his family learned of his experiences of war.
“This was on the 60th anniversary. My brother asked dad if he would be willing to talk about his war experience, because we didn’t know anything,” Gilham said.
“With some arm twisting, dad agreed. And so it was wonderful because we got to learn all about dad’s war story.”
During the battle, Seifried ended up ahead of the front line as a scout, doing advance reconnaissance.
"As a riflemen, I did have to dig trenches. But as a scout, I would go out at night, see how many Germans were out there, and then bring that information back to our major,” Seifried said. “I liked that better because I wasn’t digging all the time.”
Seifried later became a ‘batman,' a soldier assigned as an orderly to a commissioned officer.
“I got the chance to be his batman, looking after his clothes and his weapons. That was sort of a promotion for me,” Seifried said.
Watching the documentary War Story, Gilham said she could not believe the ‘noise’ of battle.
“You had the Americans, Germans and British bombing, cannons going, grenades going, and gun fire. And my dad was in that. He never did get all of his hearing back. He says being moved to the Regina Rifles, losing his hearing, and of course the devastation at Leopold Canal, were the hardest things of the whole war for him," Gilham said.
After the war in Europe, Seifried volunteered to fight in the Pacific with the hope he would be one of the first to be sent home earlier to Canada for more training. But the war soon ended.
“I came home. I was in London. When fellas would come back from the war, they would check out their uniforms. I would go and talk with these guys, find out who they were, and get them home,” Seifried said.
Returning to Guelph, Seifried married Jean, whom he had met at a dance a year before heading off to war. The couple were married 71 years and had four children, one girl and three boys.
Jean died in October, 2016.
"When I came back (from the war), I started working with a company that made stoves, Guelph Stove Company,' Seifried said.
"Then I worked with Canada Bread. It was great. I worked outside. I started with a horse and wagon. I had two, one in the east end, and the other up through the city. Then I got a truck."
After Canada Bread, Seifried had a 42-year career driving a bus for the City of Guelph. He also worked part-time for Brinks, and in his retirement, he was driver for Mark Wilson in Guelph.
Gilham looks forward to accompanying her father to Juno Beach next month.
"On June 6, dad will attend the 80th anniversary ceremony and reception as a special guest. The next day he will tour the Canadian War Cemetery before returning home," she said.
"So, we will meet others there from other regiments. And Princess Anne is the colonel-in-chief of the Regina Rifles, so my dad’s sitting with her. It will be a big event. We are going to have a great time."
At 99, Seifried still enjoys cutting his own lawn, gardening, and he'll rarely miss a good game of bridge which he play five times a week.
A young girl from Holland recently wrote a letter to Seifried thanking him for his service.
"The kids want to know about the war and they want to say thank you," Gilham said.
"This 11-year-old girl wrote a lovely letter thanking dad. That’s the third one he has received."
Whether sharing stories or continuing to march in the Remembrance Day parade, Gilham said her father will do what he can to remember his fellow soldiers.
"My dad told me last week that he has all the weight of all those soldiers on his shoulders. He is the only one going to France to represent them," she said.
"He just reaches out to everybody. He asks, what can I do for you? Those have always been his words. That’s always been my dad.”
