Peter Dmytruk

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Peter Dmytruk (born May 27, 1920 in Radisson ; died December 9, 1943 in Les Martres-de-Veyre ) was a soldier in the Canadian Air Force and resistance fighter against the occupation of France by German troops during World War II .

Life

Peter Dmytruk was the only son of parents of Ukrainian descent . Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, the family moved from his birthplace, Radisson, to Wynyard , where Dmytruk volunteered for the Canadian Air Force in July 1941. After military training and the rank of sergeant , he was in July 1942 as a member of the 405th  Bomber - squadron to England shipped. Used as a rear gunner from locations in Yorkshire , he was shot down on March 12, 1943 east of Paris with his Lancaster .

He survived this event and soon came into contact with the French resistance against the German occupation of the country. Dmytruk turned down an offer to smuggle him out of the country via the Pyrenees , instead, with the approval of his superiors, he joined the Resistance .

Pierre le Canadien, Peter the Canadian, as he was soon to be called, was considered a daredevil, ready to do anything, anywhere. His shooting skills were just as useful as his knowledge of handling heavy vehicles. He participated in thefts from supply depots , attacks on ammunition transports and acts of sabotage , for example on railway lines. On December 9, 1943, he ran into a German roadblock in Les Martres-de-Veyre in central France and was arrested. Since he gave the impression that he was responsible for an attack on a troop and ammunition train recently committed, he was shot dead that evening . Believing that they had killed the head of the local Resistance, the German soldiers left the place without making an example of a mass execution to the residents. Since then, Dmytruk has been regarded as a hero in the community and the surrounding area who saved the lives of around 1,400 people.

souvenir

A memorial commemorates him at the site of his shooting, and the French community has also named a street, Rue Pierre le Canadien, after him. Dmytruk was posthumously awarded the French Croix de guerre , and in 1999 the Nation Builders Award from the Provincial Union of Saskatchewan of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress. A lake in northern Saskatchewan was named after Dmytruk, Dmytruk Lake is located northwest of Cree Lake . A 1995 Reader's Digest published report entitled The Prairie Kid who died for France (in German: The boy from the prairie who died for France ) remembers well at him like a documentary by Telefilm Canada from 2003. 1972 took the Mayor of Les Martres-de-Veyre made contact with his counterpart from Wynyard, which resulted in a parish partnership between the two places in the following year .

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dmytruk Lake in the Directory of Topographical Names of Canada on the Natural Resources Canada website, accessed June 28, 2016 (English, French)
  2. ↑ Pierre le Canadien ( Memento of the original from October 17, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the Telefilm Canada website, accessed June 28, 2016 (English, French) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.telefilm.ca
personal data
SURNAME Dmytruk, Peter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pierre le Canadien
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian soldier and member of the Resistance
DATE OF BIRTH May 27, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Radisson (Saskatchewan)
DATE OF DEATH December 9, 1943
Place of death Les Martres-de-Veyre