Short Story re Combined Ops - DIEPPE

Letter from Sub/Lt. Dana Ramsay to his father

(Lt. Ramsay, R.C.N.R. on board H.M.C.S. Prince Robert, circa 1942)

Photo and history of H.M.C.S. Prince Robert at readyayeready

Dear Pops,

Well, we've come through our first big show and still going strong. I suppose you have learned from Mother that I was at Dieppe. I will try to put in as much as the censor will allow. It makes you sort of mad, when you're told not to write this or that and the very same stuff appears in the evening papers.

However, it's nice to feel you have something like Dieppe under your belt. All those months of training have not been in vain after all. I could not find a better crew in the whole R.C.N. They were wonderful! Never a moment of panic.

Some sights I saw:

- My Ordinary Seaman Owen of Hamilton, blasting hell out of a Ju.88 with a .303 rifle; and Able Seaman Spencer of Toronto, our Cox'n, sweating blood in every pore inside his little box, says out of his armoured slit, "We're going like hell Sir, but it's the slowest hell I've ever seen"; and Lewis Gunner Smart, also from Hamilton, muttering "My bloody oath" at every Jerry plane he saw (which was pretty often) then letting them have a whole pan of ammo. Smart wears an A.A.3 badge that he's not entitled to wear, but after putting a whole pan into a Dornier and seeing it burst into flames, I'm letting him keep the badge; Stoker Birkenes, from deep in the heart of Alberta, who is in the Black Hole of Calcutta (Engine Room), hearing everything and seeing nothing. That boy deserves a medal! A squadron of Hurribombers is lacing the front of the town with cannon. I never saw anything as beautiful as a Spitfire.

Photo includes both Seaman Spencer and Stoker Birkenes,
and other Canadians in RCNVR and Combined Operations

From St. Nazaire to Singapore, Vol. 1 Page 80

- A German armed trawler blown clear out of the water by one of our destroyers; a 5-inch shell right through from one side to the other on the boat next to me without exploding; the boat Officer, Skipper Jones, R.N.R. (ex-Trawlerman as you can guess) screaming invectives at the Jerry and coming out once in a while with the famous Jonesian saying, "Get stuffed"; a large houseful of Jerry machine gunners pasting hell out of anybody who dared come near the beach; a Ju.88 whose wing was cut in half by AB (Able Bodied Seaman) Mitchinson of Ontario in the boat astern; a plane swooping down low behind a destroyer and letting go a 2000 lb. bomb, which ricocheted over the mast and burst about 10 yards on the starboard bow; peeking over the cox'n's box and looking into the smoking cannon of an Me. 109. I'm here to state that that was close. The concussion of the near misses knocked the floorboards up and hit me on the chin. Biggest thrill of the day - picking up a Norwegian pilot who bailed out of his Spitfire. When he was still in the water he was saying, "You see I get heem" over and over again. Apparently he had got a Dornier... I never thought I'd be glad to see England but those chalk cliffs were really something!

As it will happen, we lost some of our very good men. Two Canadian Officers from another Flotilla got it. I believe I mentioned one of them in my last letter. Bob McRae, who was our former Flotilla Officer and one of the best (taken P.O.W. to the end of the war). Cliff Wallace from Montreal, who I have shared cabins with off and on since coming across, was killed. Our own Flotilla Officer got it also. We only knew him seven hours but I would go anywhere with him. Unfortunately some of our best ratings from the other Flotillas got their packet.

Above Photo is found in St. Nazaire to Singapore, Vol. 1 Page 60

We were all issued with a jug of rum before we left the ship, so when England was in sight I ordered "Splice the Main Brace." I don't think a tot was more deserved. What a sight was the port that night! You couldn't tell a Matelot from an Officer and both were wandering around with no means of identification and no money. I managed to herd my crew together and after a "sipper" (as Skipper Jones would say) we all turned in. We got a rousing welcome when we went back to the ship. After we slept the clock around, we got 48 hours leave, so away we went to London to see a show or two and meet the other lads. Sunday afternoon we went to the Officers' Club at Grosvenor House, but couldn't move for Yanks. I saw Squiddy McGinnis there, looking well. 

Back to the ship for a cleaning up and then away to Scotland. Away from these bloody air raid sirens. Having spent a week seeing all the old gang who didn't have the good fortune to get in on the show — we are together again.

A word about the ship or I should say the blokes aboard because the ship must not be mentioned (H.M.S. Ettrick). It was torpedoed after the North African campaign. This is our best ship by a mile. Lt. Jake Koyle, Flotilla Officer, Winnipeg, same class R.R. as myself, and I are the only Canadian Officers aboard and we are regarded as oddities. The Old Man is a 2 and 1/2 R.N.R. and a grand fellow. The Number One is a V.R. Lieutenant and one of the best. The R.N.R Navvie and V.R. subbie "guns" are the only other Executive Officers besides Koyle and myself. Naturally, there are millions of engineers all R.N.R., and a couple of R.N.R. Pay-bobs who do a phenomenal job of feeding us. Just like the Horn of Plenty. We are a very happy ship.

There is a buzz going around that our bunch are getting Canadian leave starting soon, and I actually saw the signal, but being the only Canadian aboard during the last week, I did not know how to treat it. I am just going to treat it as so much bunk until I'm tied up alongside in Halifax. (The H.M.S. Ettrick made the landing in Operation Torch in North Africa.)

Signed - The Youth,

Lt. Dana Ramsay.

P.S. Your parcel was waiting for me when I got back off leave. Believe it or not, most welcome. Best of luck Pop!

This short story/letter is found in Combined Operations, pages 63 - 65

Link to Websites re Combined Operations - Dieppe

Unattributed Photos by GH