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Dennis Smith

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Dennis Smith recalls the return from Vietnam as being worse for the guys who were getting out of the service than it was for him. Nobody was getting a good reception but they were getting rudely treated by the military on their way out the door. (5:45)

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It took years but Dennis Smith finally became involved with veterans groups and causes. He noticed that veterans seemed to stick with those from the same war. He remembered something his dad told him that explained this. (7:48)

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Dennis Smith feels sure that the South Vietnamese service members he worked with during the war were executed after it was over. He feels badly about that but he did make a return trip there as a tourist and that had the effect of settling his mind. (5:28)

Dennis Trudeau

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His father went north of the border to work for the railroad in Canada, so when war broke out, Dennis Trudeau enlisted in the Canadian Army as soon as he could talk his way in. The seventeen year old went to basic training and then let his parents in on it. (This interview made possible with the support of SUZANNE & RALPH HUDGENS honor of Malcom Skinner.) (5:27)

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Canadian Army recruit Dennis Trudeau's friend played a trick on him by volunteering him for a special forces unit, so Trudeau returned the favor. Both of them became paratroopers and were soon in England, training hard for the coming assault on the mainland of Europe. (This interview made possible with the support of SUZANNE & RALPH HUDGENS honor of Malcom Skinner.) (4:19)

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They knew that the time was close. Equipment was being loaded. Then they were bused to a highly secured camp near an air field. Canadian paratrooper Dennis Trudeau had trained hard and now he was told his mission. His targets were in a small town just inland from the Normandy coast and he would be in the first wave. (This interview made possible with the support of SUZANNE & RALPH HUDGENS honor of Malcom Skinner.) (4:27)

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He could not see anyone else. In the predawn, he gathered up his parachute and began a futile search for his unit and his gear, including his weapon. Canadian paratrooper Dennis Trudeau joined with an American captain he found on the road and they made their way toward the small Normandy town which was his target. Suddenly, there was the ominous whistling of aerial bombs right on top of them. (This interview made possible with the support of SUZANNE & RALPH HUDGENS honor of Malcom Skinner.) (6:30)

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When he jumped on D-Day, Canadian paratrooper Dennis Trudeau was way off target, but he finally found his unit in Varreville. Assigned to clear out a German pillbox near a bridge that was scheduled for demolition, his situation went from bad to worse when the bridge was blown. (This interview made possible with the support of SUZANNE & RALPH HUDGENS honor of Malcom Skinner.) (6:04)

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They were sure Patton would liberate them as he began his push, but the Allied POW's were put in boxcars and sent to Germany before that could happen. Canadian paratrooper Dennis Trudeau describes the long, slow journey, including the strafing by American fighters, the badly needed Red Cross packages they got at the first camp, and the games they tried to play while trading with the guards. (This interview made possible with the support of SUZANNE & RALPH HUDGENS honor of Malcom Skinner.) (4:13)

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Stalag 4B was a huge camp, with thousands of POW's. Dennis Trudeau was captured just inland from Normandy and when he arrived at the camp for British and Canadian troops, he was put on a work party at a coal mine. The men thought the war would be over by Christmas, but new arrivals told them about Bastogne and dashed their hopes. (This interview made possible with the support of SUZANNE & RALPH HUDGENS honor of Malcom Skinner.) (5:50)