Underage (16 years old) when he enlisted, he changed the dates on his birth certificate. Norm trained in London, ON., his first year in the army mainly consisted in driving new army trucks full of enlisted men to where ever they had to be.

Private Salive was trained in London, Ont. as a Driver. His first year in the army mainly consisted in driving new army trucks full of enlisted men to where ever they had to be. He transferred to Camp Borden, Ont. while there he was trained to drive a Bren Gun Carrier. He became an Instructor teaching other men how to drive the Bren Gun Carrier. He was transferred January 28th 1942 to Camp Dundurn, Sask. to the A27 Canadian Armoured Corps Training Centre. He was sent back to Camp Borden and then shipped overseas.

Once overseas Norman joined the Calgary Highlanders. It was while in England that he and some other young recruits happened on a Bren Carrier which happened to have some Gerry cans of gasoline around it, filling up the carrier and with Nomans skills at driving one they had a merry time driving around the English country side until the Provost caught them and took it away. His next stop was Belgium and then Holland. It was in Holland that he discovered how the Dutch people were staving and asked by a Dutch farmer if he would shoot his horse so people could eat, he did and many people helped themselves.

He was wounded in action 23/10/1944 in Holland fighting against the 15^th German division, he receive a concussion from a bomb explosion while fighting in the dykes. Left for dead by his unit he later regained consciousness, and somehow found his way back to his unit. He was later wounded in the hand while fighting in the dykes, a Regiment that had relieved the Calgary Highlanders was severely mauled by the Germans and Norman unit was ordered back into action. Although wounded in the hand he went to the aid of a buddy who was exposed in the open and wounded in the leg, he picked him up on his shoulder and carried him to an aid post where both were treated and sent to hospital, “I never saw him after that.” Norman was given a medical discharge.

After the war he married Lorraine and they had five children it was his daughter who knowing the name of the man her father had saved searched the internet to find him and arranged a reunion. Norman and his wife returned to Holland in 1995 and 2010 and both times the experience was heartwarming.

Information from Robin S. Bell of Tilbury.

Comrades Meet Again 1944 – 2009.

The time in service leaves a lasting mark on those who saw danger and death at close range. The Battle of the Shelt in Holland that climaxed in late October of 1944 put both friend and foe in close proximity.

The allies need the port of Antwarp before they could press forward into Germany, up until then most of the supplies that the troops required were still coming up the lond road from Normany and the were running out of almost everything, food, ammunition and gasoline were in acutely short supply. A narrow isthmus formed much of the north bank of the Shelt Estuary and it had to be taken from the Germans before the channel could be swept of Mines and ships could unload in Antwerp.

It was in this hostile place that the 5^th Canadian Infantry Brigade of the 2^nd Canadian Infantry Division found itself and in this mass of men and material two friends Norm Salive and John St. John would find themselves at the Walcheren Causeway. Both Privates hardly out of their teens as the battle unfolded Norm found his hand pinned to the butt of his rifle by a piece of shrapnel, although badly wounded, he noticed his buddy John St. Louis standing out in the open with a bad leg wound. Putting himself in danger he rescued his buddy, picking him up on his shoulder and carrying him to an aid post.

After receiving first aid John was taken away in an ambulance and Norm received medical attention. “We both went to hospital , (Norm related), and I never saw him after that.” As time passed Norm related some of his war stories to his daughter Diane and the story of he and John came up. “He said to me, ‘I don’t know if that guy ever made it.”

The search was on and eventually using ancestory.com Diane was contacted by David Plante, John’s grandson; remarkably only day before Norm was to fly back to Ontario for a family get together. Diane had gotten John’s telephone number and contacted her father to tell him that John was alive and was waiting for Norm to call. “He was in such disbelief. He was ecstatic”.  Norm called an they made plans to meet.

“When they met, John straight off the cuff started talking about that day in 1944. Then as soon as my dad said yeah, I carried your dad back, his daughter just melted. She was in such disbelief. John had been unconscious because he was loosing so much blood”. Both men were given medical discharges, Norm would undergo five different operations before his hand would function properly.

In the end the two comrades from 65 years ago talked for hours and Diane said it, “Seemed like we had known each other for years, it was just great.

Given medical discharge after being released from military hospital.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Sources

Tilbury Times (August 26, 2009. Michelle Salive, Daughter-in-law), Sylvan Lake News 8/11/12. (November 8, 2012. Michelle Salive, Daughter-in-law, TT26/08/09), MD-RH, R. S. Bell

Age	born August 14, 1924
Birthplace	Windsor, Ontario

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