Left: Br. Stephen Capustinki, 1945
Right: Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment badge
In this week of Remembrance Day, we take time to honour those who have fought and continue to fight for peace. The Franciscans have served in the military in many ways as chaplains and medical personnel and also as soldiers, like Br. Stephen Capustinski.
Br. Stephen joined the army in 1943 and served with the No. 3 Canadian Armoured Corps Reinforcement Unit and the 27th Canadian Armed Regiment (Sherbrooke Fusilers, B Squadron). During his military service, Br. Stephen filled several notebooks with regular diary entries of his experiences. One significant event was D-Day on June 6, 1944.
In the days leading up to the invasion, Br. Stephen records the preparation work:
On the last days of May we are completing the water proofing of our tanks in a secret area at Avely, on the Thames, 20 miles east of London. We have to march 1.5 miles from our work to where we sleep. We are not in contact with any civies. When all is finished, all our tanks pull out and drive to a marshalling area. It is along a highway. There are miles and miles of trucks, tanks, heavy guns and all manner of equipment. The next afternoon we drive on and we stop at the warf where the invasion barges are being loaded up. It is on the afternoon of Friday June 2nd, 1944. We stay there all afternoon and at night we drive our tanks on to the barge. It carries 16 tanks on the bottom deck and about 5 trucks. On the upper deck, it is loaded with trucks, guns, tractors, jeeps, etc. After we load up, we sail away from the warf out into the Thames. We lay out in the river for several days before we set sail for France.
On Tuesday, June 6, 1944, Br. Stephen writes:
We have been sailing all day. […] At dusk we see a black round shape float just past our stern, it is a mine. Later on a few [German] bombers come over. One drops an egg just behind us as it swoops right over our boat. Our ack acks are busy for a while and put up quite a barrage. We have been sailing in a long procession of invasion barges. We drop anchor at 2300 hrs, off the coast of Normandy. We can see fires burning on the land and the [Germans] are dropping bombs on our beachhead.
Br. Stephen would serve in the military until the end of the war in 1945. He returned to Canada in 1946 and entered the postulancy in March of the same year.
