Audio re Combined Operations: Norm Bowen, SICILY

"Smoke pots, throwing them off like crazy"

Infantrymen of Le Royal 22e Régiment board a Landing Craft, Infantry to move

150 miles along the coast at Catanzaro Marina, Italy. 16 September 1943.

Please link to an audio file at The Memory Project related to the activities of Norman Bowen (RCNVR, Comb. Ops, from Ottawa, Ontario) that touch on memories aboard landing craft at Dieppe, North Africa, and Sicily. The sinking of the hospital ship Talamba is also recalled.

A portion of Norm Bowen's transcript follows:

When we went into Sicily there were a bunch of Italians laying landmines and they told them to pick up and they didn’t want to so they started marching them all over the beach. When they stopped they wouldn’t march until we got them picked up. But, no, but then it started. The Stukas were overhead like flies. It just went on and on for days. And as I said before, everybody knew where the bloody beach was and down it came.

Link to another audio file at Audio re Combined Operations

Photo Credit, as listed at The Memory Project - Lieut. Alex M. Stirton / Canada. Dept. of National Defence / Library and Archives Canada