Albert Ludwig, QC, 1997
In his own words are Albert's experience in WWII:
At the beginning of World War II I was attending high-school at Rycroft Alberta. Besides people talking about it there did not seem to be too much concern about it locally. The following year August 1940, I, together with a few friends traveled to Edmonton, Alberta. Several of us enlisted in the Edmonton 49ers., a Canadian infantry regiment. Why I enlisted I do not know to the present day except that it seemed like the right thing to do at the time.
After a few months of training at the Grande Prairie training centre I transferred to the R.C.A.F. on or about the 5th day of February 1941. After manning depot at Brandon Man., guard duty at 4 S.F.TS. at Saskatoon Sask, Navigation School at Portage La Prairie Man. and Astro Navigation at Rivers Man. I was standing by for posting to Britain. Christmas 1941 I was on my way to Halifax, N.S. and a few days later I was aboard the Stratheden, a troop carrying ship, bound for Britain.
We landed in Glasgow where we learned about the hospitality of the British people. We spent a few weeks in Bournemouth, England awaiting a posting to an advanced flying centre for further training. Although I graduated as an observer ( a navigator) in Canada and was promoted to N.C.O. I trained as a navigator and bomb-aimer in Millom Cumberland, just a short distance from the Lake country in North West England. From there I was posted to Pershore (O.T.U ) an Operational Training Unit from which I was posted to an operational squadron in 6 Group Bomber Command. It was known as Canadian Bomber Command but we had crew members from other commonwealth countries.
Following further training on the squadron, the pilot of my crew went missing as second pilot on a bombing trip to the Ruhr and I became a spare bomb-aimer on a Wellington squadron in Yorkshire. I did a few trips from time to time, later converting to a Lancaster squadron and after a few trips my squadron was converted to a Halifax squadron. In all I did a few trips to the Ruhr Valley, one to Schweinfurt Germany, a long trip.
I did six trips over France commencing June 6th. 1944 and was shot down over Cambrai, France on the 13th day of June, 1944 on my 13th trip. It was a night trip and I bailed out in the vicinity of our bombing target. I did not see any of my crew members again. The pilot and the engineer were killed. It was a night fighter that shot us down.
Although I was commissioned in April 1944 I was shot down in my warrant officer's uniform. I was on the loose in France from June 13th 1944 to July 17th 1944 when I was captured by two Germans (one a luftwaffe man and one wehrmacht man). I was captured near Montdidier which was many kilometers from where I was shot down. I had really walked through much of the Somme valley which is the area where the Canadian army fought much of the 1 st World War.
The Red army liberated my prison camp at Luekenwalde, about forty kilometers from Berlin on April 22,1945. I was originally in Luft 7, a new prison camp a few kilometers from the Polish border from where we marched to I-Lag III A at Luekenwalde. About 30 or 40 Canadian prisoners of war left the prison camp on May the 8th (V.E.day) since the Russians were not to keen to release us. There were many interesting encounters and experiences during my time in the prison camps.
Upon leaving Luekenwalde we walked to Magdeburg, where I made it across the Elbe River I later reached Brunswig, from there to Paris for a few days from where I was flown to England. I remained a few weeks in England recovering and around the middle of July 1945 I arrived in Halifax aboard the Ile De France and from there home and ultimately to Calgary where I was demobilized in November 1945.
Further comments by Harry Palmer:
I first knew Albert in 1953 and 1954 when we were both officers of 403 Squadron (Auxiliary). I was a recent graduate in engineering and Albert in law. We sometimes roomed together in squadron weekend or summer trips. At that time I had no idea of Albert's war experiences. In subsequent years we went our own ways until we met again in recent years. Today(1997) we are both concerned with the betterment of our country and we both play tai chi chuan for improvement of personal health.
Born in November 14th, 1919 in Melfort, Saskatchewan, his family moved to Rycroft and Spirit River, Alberta, where he attended public schools, 1-12. He then joined Canada's armed forces....his experiences are described above.
In later civilian life Albert Ludwig became a lawyer, an Alberta provincial cabinet minister and a Provincial Court Judge. He is active today in 1997, playing tai chi chuan and participating in seniors' issues and the Federation of Calgary Communities.
Albert gave me one of his favorite poems that he has memorized and occasionally recites at appropriate occasions:
"I'm still at work with my hand to the plough and my face to the future. The shadows of evening lengthen about me but morning is in my heart. The testimony I bear is this. The castle of enchantment is not yet behind me, it is before me still and daily I catch glimpses of its battlements and towers. The best of life is always further on. The real lure is hidden from our eyes, somewhere behind the hills of time."
Proof of his positive attitude to life can be seen in the following photographs:
