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WWII Veteran, Art Potts
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Art Potts, 2004
2004
Wetaskiwin, Alberta
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Welcome sign at Pigeon Lake
2004
Pigeon Lake, Alberta
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The Indian people call Pigeon Lake, "Mahmew Sakahikan." That's Pigeon Lake. "Sakahikan" means lake [in Cree].
Pigeon Lake is twelve miles long and eight miles wide and early in the last century, there were thousands of wild pigeons living on its shores.
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Art's father, Bill Potts (left) and Art's Uncle Lazarus
1910
Pigeon Lake, Alberta
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I was born in 1921 to Bill and Susan (Roan) Potts of the Samson band on an acreage by Pigeon Lake, Alberta on the Hobbema 4 Band Reserve. All of us kids were born there - we lived there right by the lake and we had cattle and horses.
During the winter, my dad used to set the net out; we lived on fish. Of course, not only fish, but bush partridge, prairie chicken, deer - whatever we could hunt.
Indian Affairs would give out nets to the Indian people, just the net, no floats or sinkers. I remember my dad would make a sinker out of a rock and tie it onto a net. The float, my dad made out of a board.
When the depression hit in 1929, and Hobbema residents were starving, we ate well because my father was a great fisherman. Cousins and family members would come out and my father would share his catch with them. It is customary in the native culture that, "what each has, is shared with others."
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Residential school in St. Albert
1933
St. Albert, Alberta
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Most of [my family] went to residential school. East of St. Albert, there was a residential school set up by the United Church of Canada. That's where I went to school, where my in-laws went to school.
My brother wanted to take me to residential school with him when I was six years old but my mother was against my going away so young. When I was twelve years old, my parents decided that I could attend the residential school run by the United Church of Canada. The school was situated on approximately 700 acres and was a working farm. We milked twenty-five Holstein cows by hand. The children were taught farming practices in addition to receiving a formal education. Those students who received good grades could attend Alberta College. Kids from different reserves attended the school and all the different bands spoke their individual languages, although the teachers wanted us to speak only in English.
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My father spoke both English and Cree because he attended a residential school near Red Deer when he was young. The building is still standing out there by the river. My mother could understand some English, which she picked up from her husband and children. I spent one month at home in the summer time and I spoke English when we played with the white kids and I spoke Cree at home. I attended residential school until I was eighteen, and from that experience I learned self-sufficiency.
In 1938, I went to work for local farmers around Wetaskiwin. I was earning $2.50/day and boarded on the farms where I was employed. I continued with that line of work until I received a letter to register for military training in February 1942. Aboriginals were requested to register, even though treaty rights said that we would be exempt from armed service. My mother didn't want me to join the army; however, my father was supportive of my decision and proud that I wanted to enlist.
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During my training in Camrose, I met three boys from my residential school. About a month into training, we were asked to decide if we wanted to go overseas. The four of us decided to do so - for the excitement and for the opportunity to travel. We wanted to see the world. What if we went over there and got killed? We were young, we didn't care.
In the spring, I was sent down to Calgary where I was turned down for overseas duty because of my feet. I wanted to join the infantry and was told by an officer that I had flat feet and that the infantry's all marching. I replied that all Indians have flat feet; we wear moccasins.
My name came up for a gunner when the orders came out and I transferred to artillery where there would be little marching. I could ride in a truck and flat feet would not be a deterrent to overseas service. (Later on in the war when reinforcements were needed overseas, Indians were not turned down for service because of flat feet, and in fact, they were often expert "snipers" and served in infantry.)
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Art (on right) at Camp Shilo
1943
Camp Shilo, Manitoba
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I was sent to Brandon in the summer of 1942 for advanced training. First I learned theory and then I received practical instruction. We were training with eighteen and twenty-five pounder guns. The twenty-five pounder shells traveled three miles and five people were needed to shoot them. We learned to set the sites and we practiced precision firing.
In the winter of 1943, we went out to the range for one last practice before going overseas. We had a Sergeant from England over to train us. After we got our guns set up, we were issued rubber tits (protection for our ears). The Sergeant said, "Take those out. You don't wear them until you get over there in action." All of us had to take the orders. He said, "All you need is a little stick between your teeth so that when the guns go off, they don't jar your eardrums, or your jaw." Some of [us] forgot to do that.
I knew immediately that something was wrong, I couldn't hear anything when I came off the range. I could hear nothing from my right ear. But I didn't say anything because we were to get a medical before going overseas. We got our checkup and we were sent home for fourteen days. It would be the last visit with our families. When we got back, a number of us were called in; I think five of us altogether. The Colonel said, "You guys are not going overseas, because your eardrums are punctured from the concussion caused by the noise of the guns." In fact, one of the gunners suffered jaw displacement from the jarring. We all got a little upset. There were others at the training camp that could not go because of different medical reasons. My medical category dropped from A-1 to B-3.
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I thought, I might as well stay in the army and was posted to Camp Shilo, fifteen miles from Brandon. Paratroopers, Infantry, Artillery, Medical Corps, everyone trained there. I was working in administration, running orders for each unit. We had stencils that we ran off by hand, and I'd go around the camp and hang them out on different quarters. My hearing didn't affect my work. I still had one good ear.
I was receiving $1.30/day and I was sending half of my paycheques to my mother. When you were married, your wife was entitled to half of your pay. Because I was a bachelor, I sent half of my paycheque to my mother, thinking she would use it. One of my sisters wrote to me and told me that my mother was going to buy war bonds and put them away for me in the bank.
My mother didn't want to use the money; she was against me going into the army. Any money that she received, she didn't want, so she saved it for me.
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I stayed in the army from 1942 to 1946. I did meet one boy from Hazelton, B.C. that I knew from the residential school at Camp Shilo. There was no racism - we were all brothers. I never experienced racism in the army or anytime during my labors on the farms. The army taught me to not be afraid of change and be more aware of what life was like off of the reserve.