“I killed a cow during the war,” said 90-year-old Eric Slade.
In 1943, Slade was serving in the Canadian Armed Forces as a truck driver and was stationed in London during WWII. On his way home one night he struck and killed a cow grazing on the grounds of Windsor Castle.
He had attended a dance and had agreed to take some of the guests home in his truck.
“We were pelting along inside the grounds of Windsor Castle, on the main highway,” said Slade, “and everything was going fine, and all of a sudden I hit this cow.”
The impact ran his truck off the road.
He told everyone not to make too much noise. “And don’t lose their hats,” he said. “Because it was risky, if they found a hat the cops would be at the barracks there in 15 minutes.”
“It happened once before.”
They managed to move the truck, and Slade said it wasn’t until they were on the way home that they found out it was a cow. He thought he had hit a deer.
“I hit that cow so hard and in the right place that it never even moved,” he said. There wasn’t much damage to the truck, as it was a robust army truck, but there was some damage to the bumper and and one tire.
He looked in the papers the next day and there was no announcement that anyone had killed a cow. Slade was relieved.
He forgot, until many years later when a fire broke out at Windsor Castle, and Slade remembered his experience on those grounds.
He told his son, who was visiting from Vancouver, and his son wrote a letter to Buckingham Palace on his dad’s behalf to say sorry and to offer any reimbursement.
Buckingham Palace wrote back.
‘Her Majesty was interested to know of your father’s amusing story of when he was serving with the Canadian Army in the United Kingdom during the Second World War’ the letter said.
‘The Queen was touched by your father’s concern, but would be grateful if you assure Mr. Slade that no reimbursement would be necessary. His selfless service to his country, the Commonwealth, and the Allies during the War would be payment enough’.
“It’s pretty fantastic,” said Slade.
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