Veteran shares war experience

By Kathy Johnson

THE COAST GUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

For World War II veteran Bob Pigout, his time on the frontline was short, voluntary and almost deadly.

Pigout, along with his wife Rose were among the veterans honored during a tea at the McKay Memorial library in Shelburne last Thursday hosted by the Shelburne County Genealogical Society.

With a little coaxing the two shared some memories about the home front and the frontlines of World War II.

A native of England, Pigout moved to Nova Scotia with his family in 1920 when he was five years old. “Bridgetown is where we landed,” he recalled.

With the world at war less than 20 years later, Pigout didn’t take long to enlist and initially was stationed in Yarmouth for four years as a corporal.

Pigout decided he wanted to go overseas, which meant he had to drop rank to a private in order to go. “You never know what a young fella will do,” he chuckled.

Pigout shipped out from Halifax with the West Novies Regiment. After arriving in Europe, Pigout transferred to the Calgary Highlanders, who were “in need of reinforcements.”

Pigout’s platoon was headed towards Holland via Belgium when they were ambushed by Germans near the border town of Brecht.

“The Germans had already taken out the bridge,” recalled the 93-year-old veteran. “For the platoon the only was to go where we had to go was to cross the pipe”- an open canal.

When the Germans called for the Allied troops too surrender, Pigout was having nothing to do with it.

“Bob is not the surrendering type,” said Rose.

“I jumped from the ditch and was down on my knees crawling behind a hedge when they threw the grenade,” said Pigout. “They got me in the back and the leg. Then they shot me in the arm.”

Left for dead, Pigout somehow made it to a farmhouse, where he was greeted by fellow Canadian soldiers and a warm fire. “As soon as the heat hit him he passed out,” said Rose.

The wounded solider was taken to hospital, then flown by helicopter to England where he eventually recovered enough to return to Canada. Pigout still carries pieces of shrapnel from the attack.

Married since 1965, the Pigouts relocated to Shelburne in 1999, bringing back to her hometown.

For Rose, Remembrance Day also brings back memories of her father, stonemason Charles Reed, who constructed the cenotaphs in Shelburne, Lockeport, Clark’s Harbour and Liverpool.