OLDS — Peter Kraft, 98, never had any great ambition to be a soldier.
He was just living his life in Rocky Mountain House when he got a phone call.
“The military called me up and said I had to report to Mewata Armoury in Calgary,” he recalled during an interview with the Albertan.
He was just 18.
Before he knew it, Kraft was a member of the Calgary Highlanders in a mortar platoon support company.
Kraft did his job, serving from 1943 to 1945.
He was deployed to France, arriving in the Cannes area shortly after the famous D-Day landing in 1944. The crew fired three-inch mortars.
“The roads into Cannes were all full of shell holes and bomb craters. I mean, you could hardly tell it was a road,” he said.
“After we got out of Cannes and on further into France, the German army was retreating and we were driving and we come along, and for about two or three or four kilometres there, there was nothing but demolished artillery and armoured cars.
“And there were all kinds of horses laying on the side of the road all bloated up and that was a terrible stench for about three of four kilometres there – all kinds of vehicles.”
A collection of memorabilia from that service, including some medals and a commendation, were displayed on a nearby table during the interview.
“There wasn’t a day in my life – a day that I was in the front lines – that I wasn’t scared,” he said.
Kraft’s group travelled to about four or five kilometres from the Seine River.
“The next day they said we were supposed to go across the Seine River and into Belgium, but I never made it,” he said.
The platoon was ordered to be ready to move. But they ended up having to wait.
And wait.
Eventually it got dark. Kraft decided to get some shut-eye, so he lay down on the gun carrier.
“There was just room for me to stretch out and lay on my back and use my helmet (at) the back of my head for a pillow and I went to sleep,” he said.
"I heard this noise. I woke up and opened my eyes – and here it was daylight, just like daylight, and I knew (when) I went to sleep, you know, it was dark.
“And then I heard the airplanes, two airplanes, and they dropped anti-personnel bombs.
“And they come and hit the ground and they bounced up in the air – I don’t know how far – and then they exploded,” he said.
Kraft got hit with shrapnel.
"One piece went in my right chest and another one went through under my left arm, through my left lung and stopped right beside the other one. And (I got) compound fractures of my small bone in my left knee joint," he said.
That incident was recorded in a book by University of Calgary history professor David Berecuson called Battalion of Heroes, The Calgary Highlanders in World War II,
Kraft was sent first to a field hospital, then to a hospital in England, near London. He was in the hospital for three months, then another three months in recovery.
Kraft was then sent for physical training with a view to sending him back out into the war.
But it was not to be.
"I couldn’t keep up anymore. I was short of breath and my leg was still hurting," he said.
Kraft was discharged and came back to Canada where he worked in the logging industry in the 100 Mile House area in B.C.
“My lung healed up and my leg healed up and I was pretty active after that. I was fairly healthy,” he said.
However, eventually he ended up on disability, then retired at age 65 in 1962.
Kraft and his wife Melba decided to move back to Alberta. With the help of real estate agents, they looked at communities from Lacombe to Airdrie. They chose Olds, he said because it seemed to be “the friendliest town.”
They had two sons. Michael Edward Kraft lives in Edmonton and Douglas Wayne Kraft lives on Vancouver Island.
Melba passed away Oct. 21, 2011.
Kraft’s 98th birthday occurred last month.
On Jan. 6, Kraft was presented with a Quilt of Valour for his service to his country by Terry and Charlene Griffiths of Olds during an event at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch #105. Charlene is Kraft's niece and caregiver. He was very appreciative of the gesture but looked a little uncomfortable.
"Is it hot," he was asked.
"Yeah," he said, sparking laughter.
Kraft is keenly aware of the war in Ukraine.
“It’s a terrible thing, it’s a terrible thing,” he said.
He was outraged about the Russian tactic of bombing civilian targets, including heating and water infrastructure as well as civilian homes.
Kraft was hopeful Ukraine will win that war but he wasn’t sure they will.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said.
