By Mike Renzella
The Haldimand Press
CALEDONIA—Joseph Spisak Jr. was born in Czechoslovakia, but he grew up in Caledonia, arriving by boat with his mother and sisters in 1930. Joseph would go on to work for a local gypsum mining company, but when the call for service was issued, he answered.
Joseph originally joined up in Hamilton before being transferred to Fort Benning, Georgia, becoming a paratrooper in 1943. After additional training in Manitoba, he was shipped off to England.
A look inside a plane during WW2, showing what paratroopers experienced moments before jumping into the field of battle, such as Joseph experienced with the other members of Vickers Platoon.
“He landed on D-Day, with the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion Headquarters Company,” said Joseph’s son, Bob Spisak, who has written a book about his father’s World War II efforts. “He was in the Vickers Platoon. They were to be landing where they could help prevent German reinforcements from coming in.”
Members of the platoon were dropped over a wide area, with part of the battalion joining an attack on Varaville, another part joining a company of soldiers at Robehomme, and a part joining the headquarters at Le Mesnil.
“One hundred sixty miles had to be accomplished within one week,” said Bob. “They did it with partial military equipment on, in water…. It was almost inhuman, but their training really toughened them up for it.”
Bob cannot say for certain where his father landed that day, but records, including clippings Bob has seen from a local publication from the time, indicate that when Joseph landed he did so in water above his head, leading Bob to believe his father landed near the north end of Varaville, which had been flooded by the Germans.
“Some people that landed in there drowned. My father got out of it and he was without food or water for 48 hours before the supplies were dropped…. He was in battle for 27 days, ending up at Le Mesnil, where he was injured.”
Bob said his dad sustained injuries to both of his knees while at Le Mesnil. He was sent to Southampton, where they took care of his immediate injuries and then he was shipped to England, where he spent some time in a hospital.
“He had a lot of trouble walking and bending his knees, but as time went on, he was able to walk half-decently. It was an injury that affected his life, but he brought us kids up in a normal way, fishing, walking, whatever, we did it. I never even knew as a kid what he went through until I did some research on him after he passed away in 2002.”
Bob said that over the years he would try and ask his dad questions about his wartime experiences, and that Joseph would tell him about his training and all the miles that he walked, but it came to a point where he didn’t want to talk about it anymore. He spun a tale to his children about landing his parachute in a tree and hanging there, but in his research following Joseph’s death, Bob found out that this was not what really happened.
“The Vickers Platoon was a powerful group,” said Bob. “I’m sure lives were taken, and that’s where he had a hard time talking about it. A war is a war … but that wasn’t their objective. Their objective was to go destroy some bridges and provide protection for the people coming in from the shore.”
CALEDONIA— Some of Joseph’s wartime keepsakes, including his wings from his uniform, a pin attached to his beret when he jumped, and medals for (l-r) 1939-1945 Star; France Germany Star; Defence Medal; CVSM medal and clasp; and the 1939-1945 War Medal.
There is a monument to Canadian paratroopers in Siffleur Falls, Alberta, and Bob has been travelling there annually since 2018 to lay wreaths on behalf of his father and the other men in his battalion: “My father was one of many who went down and gave it all they had to get to Normandy to be ready for when the Allied Forces landed. They blew up bridges to stop the German military from coming into the action. I read very little about the paratroopers in war history. It’s more the people who landed at Normandy and proceeded on, but my father landed behind the enemy line and did the work to prevent (the Germans) from proceeding further towards Normandy…. It made it easier for (the Allies) to progress and make their way into France.”
“I’m proud of my father for who he was,” said Bob. “I had a lot of respect for my father as a kid and even more so now. Back in those days, if he was wounded, he felt like he didn’t do his job as a paratrooper. When you’re wounded, you’re no longer any good and you’re put on the side. That’s how things were looked at back in his days. Today, in friendly fire situations, people are still recognized for being there and trying to do their work.”
Bob says his dad’s injuries at the time were classified as an accident, not a wound, causing Joseph to have to jump through a series of hoops later in life when trying to collect his military pension: “That’s something I never knew about. He never told us about it, and I doubt he ever would have. I’m finding this out as time goes on.”
Bob may never know every detail about the days his father spent in France, as the Allied Forces pushed further inland, leading to their eventual victory. While he would like to learn more about this time, Bob is buoyed by a different set of memories of camping trips in the rain, where Joseph would laugh from the tent while Bob and his brother tried to light a fire, and of the great life his father gave him in spite of the horrors he endured and the lingering wounds they left in him.
“I’ve got nothing but good memories of my father,” he concluded.
