Snow, William

Bill Snow was born September 13, 1922 in Bay Roberts, Newfoundland.  He grew up in that small community alongside his five sisters.  Bill recalls that his father was a fisherman – but that he did many other jobs in the off season.  Bill went to school but left in Grade 8:  work was available and he wanted to help the family.  He helped his father on the fishing boats, and when the war came and the construction boom began Bill helped to build the American base at Argentia.  When war was declared Bill knew he wanted to get involved, but as the only son he knew his parents would not approve, so when he was old enough he went to Toronto and joined up there.  The navy would not take him right aways, and the army at first rejected Bill because of an old arm injury, but when they saw that he could drive a truck he was accepted as a driver for the Royal Canadian Artillery and sent off to Camp Petawawa for training.  Bill went overseas in the winter of 1942-43, and once in England he was assigned to Motor Transport, and he spent most of the next year training officers and enlisted men to drive the various vehicles.  Bill would eventually be assigned as a driver to one of the specialized mobile radar units, and they made their way across the Channel in the days after the June 6 Normandy invasion.  Over the next year the Canadian army followed the coastal route, and Bill and the radar unit were never far behind, watching for targets as they moved through France, Belgium, Holland, and Germany.  Bill spent the summer of 1945 in Holland, and in September he returned to England, and Canada after that.  Bill came back with the First Division, and he recalls the entry into Halifax harbour as one of the great moments of his life.  Bill returned to Ontario in short order, and he was demobilized within a few months.  He went on to marry Janet and the two raised their family and made a life for themselves in postwar Canada.  Bill Snow was interviewed by Scott Masters at his home in Barrie in February 2024.