Article: Dad Had Sailed These Same Waters

Dad Had Sailed These Same Waters

By Doug Harrison, RCNVR and Combined Operations, 1941 - 1945

Doug (foreground), about age 8, poses with members of his family:
Mother Alice, brother Roland, father Roland Sr., and sister Myrtle

The Silver Walnut remained in Cape Town for two weeks. We all enjoyed ourselves and I purchased a guitar and brushed up on some chords that I knew so my friends could share time singing navy ditties and other songs. Then the ship left Cape Town on her own and we continued around the Cape of Good Hope. I supposed that I was in the same waters that my dad had sailed when he served on a Royal Navy ship as a boy during the Boer War.

The conversation among the Canadian sailors would invariably be of home. We spoke most often of our mothers, rather than our girlfriends. Some of us, including a young, apple-cheeked Mr. Rodgers, shed unhidden and unashamed tears as we talked of our mothers and the mutual concerns we shared for one another.

Usually when we sang navy ditties on decks, with our backs against the bulwark, Mr. Rodgers would emerge from his cabin and say, “Keep it down to a dull roar, boys.” He thought, possibly, that we might attract a U-boat. After a while, with my tutoring, we learned to sing a song about our mothers. Although the officer didn’t join in, he was nearby with his foot on the lower rail, looking off into the distance with his arms folded across his chest. He appeared to be deep in thought; after all, officers have mothers too.

This is the song that my mother had taught me a few years before - a poignant reminder of happier times:

     M is for the million things she gave me
     O is that she now is growing old
     T is for the tears she shed to save me
     H is for the heart of purest gold
     E is for her eyes with love light shining
     R is right and right she’ll always be.
     Put them all together they all spell MOTHER
     A word that means the world to me.

The Chinese crewmen stood around at ease in sandalled feet with make-shift skullcaps on their heads and those ever present oily rags in their hands. I don’t suppose they understood the word mother, but then again maybe they did.

"Hermanus, South Africa on the south east coast near Cape Town"

Photo credit - Dan Catton (Doug Harrison's nephew), London Ont. 

In a day or two the Silver Walnut, functioning well and her bow cleaving the waters of the Indian Ocean, arrived in Durban where we docked and stayed for almost another two weeks. Durban was a repeat performance of Cape Town with gharry rides and sight-seeing, but with very little money. However, I had a very memorable experience there as a result of saving my friend Mr. Hasting’s very expensive hat from the waters of Cape Town Harbor.

Mr. Hastings came to me on the mess deck and asked if I would like to take a trip on Sunday. I said, “Yes, if we are still here.” With that, he went ashore and made arrangements without revealing anything to me about the trip.

Bright and early on Sunday morning we walked into Durban and directly to a taxi stand. I was introduced to Mr. Owen, our driver and tour guide for the day. And I remember clearly that Mr. Owen had a speech impediment. We drove for miles north of Durban; it was hilly, beautiful country and at long last we drove up to a large, white restaurant with a huge, white cobblestone drive and spacious parking lot. Roses growing on white arbors and tremendous flower beds all in full bloom reminded me of a picture postcard setting. The restaurant was on an elevation set on the entrance to the Valley of a Thousand Hills. I was thunderstruck.

In the early morning the sun shone through the mist and as far as the eye could see there was a tremendous valley with a narrow dirt road and green hills rising hundreds of feet on either side. What good fortune for me. The taxi driver drove slowly down into the valley and explained it all to us.

Upon reaching the valley floor we came upon a black chief and his wives and children. The house was sheet metal and wood, and a large garden surrounded it. They didn’t appear to be short of anything but clothes. Owen the driver spoke with them in fluent Zulu and the chief said he wished to move into Durban. The driver replied that he and his family would lose their lovely white teeth on the city diet high in sugar.

Driving on we met some black boys about 12 years old, and through our interpreter they said they would do a native dance for pennies. And so we tossed pennies onto the sand while they performed a tribal dance for us, but briefly, in the heat of the day.

We met an elderly black man who appeared to be as leathery as the large, hairy shield he was carrying; he also had a long, sharp cudgel. I asked questions of the old man through our cabbie. Why the shield and cudgel (a thick stick)? Were there dangerous animals, or bandits? The cabbie learned that the old man was entitled to the shield, and that the cudgel acted as a cane. And no, there were not any wild animals or bandits to fear anymore.

We stayed in the valley for hours, then returned to the restaurant where we had an eight-course meal, starting with pheasant. With each new course we had a different liquor. All the time we talked with the black lady owner.

Mr. Hastings paid dearly for the saving of his hat. I don’t know the cost of the meal for three, but the cab fare was $385 (1943 prices). We arrived safely back aboard the Silver Walnut about midnight, and I thanked Mr. Hastings for a wonderful day.

Editor's notes - The cab fare was reportedly $385. In today's dollars the cost might be 20 times higher. Here are the prices of a few other items in 1943 for comparison. "How Much things cost in 1943: Average Cost of new house $3,600.00; Average wages per year $2,000.00; Cost of a gallon of Gas 15 cents; Average Cost for house rent $40.00 per month; Bottle Coca Cola 5 cents; Average Price for a new car $900.00." From The People History. As well, re the song about Mothers, I notice the first letters in the last two lines spell PA. Coincidence?

Please link to Article: "Stout Heart Required in War-Time England"

Video: "Operation Husky - Invasion of Sicily"

The Invasion of Sicily in World War II

Men up to their waists, unloading stores from landing craft tanks,

the opening day of the invasion of Sicily. Photo credit - WW2Today

Introduction: The website 'Critical Past' has an extensive collection of videos and still images, and many concern significant events during WW2 in which Canadians in Combined Operations were involved. A price tag is attached to high-resolution videos and stock images but one can find access to the same material in low-resolution video but with the website's title displayed in the centre. Please note: The above photo and the video presented may not be concerned with the same troops at the same location.

Link to Critical Past - Operation Husky - Invasion of Sicily

Title - "Operation Husky" - The invasion of Sicily in World War II.

Synopsis - July 10, 1943, U.S. invades Sicily in Italy. Fleet of warships underway. Navy bombardment of Sicily. Coast Guardsman observes through binoculars. Coast Guardsmen carry troops and supplies in LCVPs (Higgins Boats). LST-356 approaching Blue Beach 2, in the "Cent" area on July 10, 1943, loaded with tanks and other vehicles. A beach master signals with semaphore flags. Troops landing from assault boats. Concentrated enemy air attacks destroy U.S. boats and ships. Enemy aircraft in flight. U.S. troops firing. A map shows Italy. September 9, 1943, amphibious assault on Anzio, Italy. Naval bombardment, followed by troop assault on the beaches.

From the Editor: Canadians in Combined Ops were active in another location. See map provided below.

"U.S. troops are part of Western Task Force. Canadians see action on SE coast, right"

Map found in Combined Operations, a Canadian text

Location: Sicily Italy
Date: 1943
Duration: 1 min 49 sec
Sound: Yes

Please link to Video: "Allied amphibious landing, Sicily 1943"

Video: "Allied amphibious landing, Sicily 1943"

Allied Forces amphibious landing in Sicily in 1943

A British Universal Carrier Mk I comes ashore with troops and guns

during the invasion of Sicily on 10 July 1943.

Photo credit - WW2Today

Introduction: The website 'Critical Past' has an extensive collection of videos and still images, and many concern significant events during WW2 in which Canadians in Combined Operations were involved. A price tag is attached to high-resolution videos and stock images but one can find access to the same material in low-resolution video but with the website's title displayed in the centre. Please note: The above photo and the video presented may not be concerned with the same troops at the same location.

Link to Critical Past - Allied amphibious landing, Sicily 1943

Title: Allied forces amphibious landing in Sicily in 1943. German Stuka aircraft dive bomb and destroy an allied LST.

Synopsis: Activities of the Seabees during Allied invasion of Sicily, in World War II. Seabees lash sections of floating causeway to LST. Allied troops landing on the beach of Sicily shores between Licata and Gela. Seabees install floating causeway from LST to the beach. A bulldozer goes from the LST to the beach over the causeway. "Enemy" Italian troops volunteer to help with the unloading. German stuka dive bombers attack the allied beachhead and destroy an LST. Sherman tanks reach the beachhead from other LSTs using the floating causeways. Vehicles, artillery, and troops move ashore over the causeways. 

From the Editor: Canadians in Combined Ops were active in another location. See map provided below. Video reveals many landing crafts in action and usefulness of pontoon bridges.

"U.S. troops are part of Western Task Force. Canadians see action on SE coast, right"

Map found in Combined Operations, a Canadian text

Location: Sicily Italy
Date: 1943, July 10
Duration: 4 min 58 sec
Sound: Yes

Please link to Video: "U.S. 1st Ranger Infantry Battalion Soldiers"

Passages: "Lifelong Memories"

"The War Produced Lifelong Memories"

Men and women, whatever their role during WW2, looked back - in their later years - on that time in the 1940s as a fundamental 'game changer'. Events occurred they would never forget. They made friends and connections that they would never forget. They were forever changed and some wore scars - physical, social, mental, emotional - few others knew about.

Much can be learned by visiting The Memory Project online and reading any of the 1000s of stories provided in audio files and transcripts. In this post I provide links to four memorable stories from WW2. Though the stories to not relate specifically to Canadian members of Combined Operations, some readers, I am certain, will argue that they still do in some ways.

Arthur H. Hoole, Army, at age 25 in uniform

Photo credit - The Memory Project

"We saw this in my father's tears"

          (My father) married my mother

          four weeks before going to war.

Her picture was carried with him at all times.

She was, and continued to be, his lifeline. My dad

returned five years later. My mother did not recognize him.

War stole much of their youth together, and it is

another side effect of what happened in those times.

          My dad always felt

          very sad about the war.

He said that movies and films cannot adequately depict the war.

People cannot hear the horrors of young boys dying and

screaming for their mothers, and the way that made you feel. 

They cannot depict the smell and the horrible odour that so

much death can produce. Friends were tortured

and friends were killed, and civilians got hurt.

War is terrible in all of its aspects.

          As a child of a war veteran,

          I learned that war is powerful,

and its consequences for those who fight

are both costly physically and emotionally.

We saw this in my father's tears,

which came freely as he aged

whenever he spoke of his life then.

It affected him profoundly. 

By a family member, in memory of Captain Arthur H. Hoole, C.D.

Please link to Capt. Hoole's audio file and full transcript at The Memory Project, WW2

*   *   *   *   *   *

"Explosives in a pack on your back"

     Dieppe was very poorly planned.

I was with a special unit at Dieppe.

There was seven of us. Our job was

to take five underground people to a destination

in Dieppe and carry some high explosives for them.

Each person had 70 pounds of explosives in a pack on your back.

And add to that a Tommy gun and ten magazines,

that runs up to quite a few pounds. Of course,

we had special training for that.

     Now, when they briefed us, what we were supposed to do,

there was supposed to be battleships bombarding, aircraft,

500 aircraft, to bomb the night before.

We were on the ship and everything.

We were just waiting for the word to go

and they had to cancel it, and they cancelled

the bombardment and the aircraft.

     The person in charge of the navy, he says

that he wasn’t putting his battleships in danger.

And the Englishman who was in charge of

the Royal Air Force didn’t want to put his aircraft in danger,

so they just cancelled them.

     And we accepted that.

So it was very poorly planned, period.

By Arthur "Vernon" Drake, Army, Windsor, Ontario, 1940.

Please link to Vernon's audio file and full transcript at The Memory Project, WW2

*   *   *   *   *   *

"I got through that OK"

          I was young.

I never volunteered for anything,

but we were training for this big invasion

of France for months and months before it happened.

          So when D-Day came,

I was on the beach. I had a big radio

on my back, and I'm not very tall

– I'm only 5'6". I dang near drowned!

When the door opened in that little boat,

I jumped in the water, and the water

was right up around my shoulders.

It ruined the radio.

          You know, I still remember that day.

Bodies were floating in the water. We were

all so young. I was twenty-one years old, and

I was pushing these dead bodies out of the way,

and I knew they were all young like me.

You could see 'Canada' on their shoulders,

and there they were, head down in the water.

I got through that OK, and I was running up the beach,

and all of a sudden, an airplane came down.

I didn't know what kind it was, but I

noticed sparks coming out of the wings.

Then it dawned on me – that airplane was

shooting at us.

          Then all of a sudden, the beach

almost jumped up with all these bullets hitting it.

I jumped in a hole, and landed right on a dead Canadian.

Then I thought… the light snapped on

and I thought, "Boy, this is war!" 

By Vern Westhaver, Army

Please link to Vern's audio file and full transcript at The Memory Project 

*   *   *   *   *   *

Ruth Werbin's Medals for Service as a WREN in the Navy

(L - R) Defence Medal, Canadian Volunteer Service Medal, War Medal

Photo credit - The Memory Project

Another one of our ships had gone down

     I still remember it so vivid

     when my name come over the

intercom to report back to the office.

And I reported back there and, of course,

"on the double" meant on the double.

     Went back to the office and

     there was a line-up of sailors,

probably only maybe twenty or so 

and it was another one of our ships

had gone down and I was behind

the counter checking the names off on

that ship's crew, one young fellow there,

he wasn't any older than I was, and he was

so uptight and he said that he'd lost his parents

and he had just lost his only brother who was left.

     He'd just lost him at sea.

     And I just... you know,

there was a counter between us and I just

felt like he needed a shoulder to cry on

and I couldn't do anything about it except

reach over and... and take his hand.

     And this is something,

     it's just a small incident

but, you know, I've never forgotten that.

And it just made us... it made me, anyway,

just more aware of where I was and who I was

and what I was doing there.

     I realized that I was

     part of the war effort.

I was doing something towards the war...

war effort and I felt that I was proud to...

I was just more aware of the pride that I felt

in being a WREN and... and also being able

to serve my country.

     And I think that's when

     I started to feel that I was Canadian.

Ruth Werbin, WREN in the Navy

Please link to Ruth's audio file and full transcript at The Memory Project

Please link to Passages: "Eye Witnesses with Backs Bent"

Video: "U.S. 1st Ranger Infantry Battalion Soldiers"

U.S. 1st Ranger Infantry Battalion Descend Landing Nets

American troops climb into assault landing craft from the liner REINA DEL
PACIFICO during Operation 'Torch', the Allied landings in North Africa, Nov. 1942

The landing craft are manned by Canadians in Combined Operations. 

Photo credit - Imperial War Museum

Introduction: The website 'Critical Past' has an extensive collection of videos and still images, and many concern significant events during WW2 in which Canadians in Combined Operations were involved. A price tag is attached to high-resolution videos and stock images but one can find access to the same material in low-resolution video but with the website's title displayed in the centre. Please note: The above photo and the video presented may not be concerned with the same troops at the same location.

Link to video - U.S. 1st Ranger Infantry Battalion soldiers

This video concerns U.S. 1st Ranger Infantry Battalion soldiers descend landing nets on a transport for Operation Torch in North Africa.

Location: North Africa

Date: 1942

Duration: 1 min 20 sec

Sound: NO SOUND

Synopsis - U.S. Army Rangers of the 1st Ranger Infantry Battalion (Darby's Rangers) descend landing nets on a transport ship into landing craft suspended from the ship's side. They go below through a hatch on one of the landing craft. Next, some are seen climbing back on deck of the transport ship. Gun crew is positioned at a Bofors 40mm anti-aircraft gun on deck.

Operation TORCH involved landings at several points on N. African coasts

Please link to Video: "Preparations by Allies for Operation TORCH in North Africa"

Video: "Preparations by Allies for Operation TORCH in North Africa"

Preparations by Allies for Allied Offensive in North Africa

Operation TORCH involved landings at several points on N. African coasts

Introduction: The website 'Critical Past' has an extensive collection of videos and still images, and many concern significant events during WW2 in which Canadians in Combined Operations were involved. A price tag is attached to high-resolution videos and stock images but one can find access to the same material in low-resolution video but with the website's title displayed in the centre. Please note: The above photo and the video presented may not be concerned with the same troops at the same location.

Link to - Preparations by Allies for Allied Offensive

This video concerns preparations by Allies for Allied offensive in North Africa during World War II. Allied leaders confer in planning.

Location: North Africa

Date: 1942

Duration: 4 min 1 sec

Sound: Yes

Synopsis - Allied offensive in North Africa during World War II. Railroad train passes on a bridge in the United States filled with tanks and equipment bound for eastern ports. British rail carry heavy equipment and British Tanks to ports. Large number of transport trucks line up at a dock area. An Allied troop transport ship arrives at the dock. Allied troops boarding troop carrier ships in United States and England. British tanks loaded to ships. Troops disembark a train and troops embark a ship. Troops wave as the ship leaves the dock. Allied transport ships, battleships, cruisers and destroyers underway in Atlantic toward Gibraltar rendevous in 1942. Montage shows U.S. Capitol in Washington, President Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill in conversation in late December 1941, Views of General George Marshall, General Dwight D Eisenhower in the United States following their appointments to lead the effort from the American side. General Mark Clarke in England shaking hands with Eisenhower. Neville Chamberlain also seen. A convoy of Allied ships. Allied troops aboard ships headed to Gibraltar. Two United States soldiers sew American flag patches on uniforms. Troops play games on ship deck. Battle inspection of troops and arms on the deck by their officers.

American troops making their way inland after landing at Arzeu.

Several small landing craft can be seen in foreground whilst in the distance

can be seen some of the troopships that helped transport the men. 

Photo credit - Imperial War Museum

Please link to Video: "U.S. Troops Enter Port of Oran"

Video: "U.S. Troops Enter Port of Oran"

United States troops enter Port of Oran

 "U.S troops land in North Africa. Photos are likely taken east of Oran, at Arzeu"

"Canadians in Combined Ops landed U.S. troops at Arzeu. November, 1942"
Credit for above two photos - Imperial War Museum (IWM)

Introduction: The website 'Critical Past' has an extensive collection of videos and still images, and many concern significant events during WW2 in which Canadians in Combined Operations were involved. A price tag is attached to high-resolution videos and stock images but one can find access to the same material in low-resolution video but with the website's title displayed in the centre.

Link to - U.S. troops enter Port of Oran

Synopsis - United States troops enter French African Port of Oran, Algeria. U.S. soldiers seated inside a boat, advance towards Port Oran. Supplies and equipment brought to the beach area. United States medics treat French prisoners. Civilians welcome U.S. troops as they move on streets of Oran. Troops honor a French soldier. Soldier sends telegraphic message to his regiment. Sign board reads Saint Cloud. Troops move on road in jeeps and trucks.

United States troops enter Port of Oran, Algeria and patrol in the city.

Location: Oran, Algeria

Date: 1943 (writes Critical Past. Editor thinks film is from 1942)

Duration: 4 min 43 sec

Sound: Yes

Please link to Video: "Allied troops in landing crafts reach Oran"

Video: "Allied troops in landing crafts reach Oran"

Allied Troops in Landing Crafts Reach Beachheads in Oran

American troops step into landing craft assault (LCAs) manned by Canadians from

a doorway in the side of the liner REINA DEL PACIFICO. Photo - WW2Today

Introduction: The website 'Critical Past' has an extensive collection of videos and still images, and many concern significant events during WW2 in which Canadians in Combined Operations were involved. A price tag is attached to high-resolution videos and stock images but one can find access to the same material in low-resolution video but with the website's title displayed in the centre.

Link to - American and British troops in landing crafts

Synopsis - Allied offensive in North Africa, part of Operation Torch in World War 2. Allied convoy underway near the coast of Oran in North Africa. Antiaircraft guns provide cover fire for the naval fleet to land on the shores. British and American warships lay a smoke screen. Troops descend from a ship via a climbing net and board a transport boat. Troops in landing crafts head toward the beachheads. British and American troops reach the North African shores. Supplies and equipment are unloaded. 

American and British troops in landing crafts reach the beachheads in Oran, Algeria in Operation Torch invasion of North Africa 

Location: Oran, Algeria

Date: 1942, November

Duration: 2 min. 37 sec.

Sound: Yes

Please link to Video re Combined Ops, "The Dieppe Raid" 2

Article: "Stout Heart Required in War-Time England"

Stout Heart Required in War-Time England

By Doug Harrison, RCNVR and Combined Operations, 1941 - 1945

Raw recruits in Hamilton, 1941 (above), are seasoned veterans in England, 1942

[This article was first published in the Norwich Gazette, circa 1992]

During the couple of years I was in Britain during the Second World War, I enjoyed more than my fair share of leave. When I wasn’t in training on landing craft or on an invasion, I was usually in London or Glasgow. Most often I was in London where I had relatives.

While training in England and being granted leave I stated on my ‘leave chit sheet’ that my destination was Glasgow. This earned me two extra days for travel. Then I just hopped into London where I always stayed at the Westminster YMCA for a couple of shillings a night. It was across the road from the Abbey, and I could hear Big Ben sounding the hours. When training in Scotland I did the reverse and put my destination as London, and claimed two days leave. (No vices, no virtues.) Had I been caught in this swindle I probably would still be singing the Prisoner’s Song, staring through the bars of some dark navy dungeon with my fingers bleeding from picking oakum.

"Poor Private Ewing. Singing the Prisoner's Song and picking oakum"

Inside the Military Prison, Edinburgh Castle, 2014

There was method in navy madness. While on leave the navy did not have to feed me. I paid for my own meals and I could inflict my own form of punishment on London or Glasgow.

My friends whispered in my waiting ear about a pub up the way from the Y, and that I should visit it the next time in London. “This is not your average hole-in-the-wall pub,” they told me. I liked travelling in London alone and unhindered and at night. It is true I’m sure, that a person could live in London all his life and not see it all.

The next time I was in London I prepared myself for the Lord High Admiral pub. The clocks, during war-time in England, were set ahead at least two hours so I had plenty of time to walk the long mile up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square where my boyhood hero, Lord Nelson, stood on the tall column, guarded by his faithful lions, and where people milled about feeding large flocks of pigeons. Nearby was St. Martins in the Fields, and Canada House, where I could call to see if there was any mail from home. A fleet mail office was set up there for the Canadian sailors and it was staffed by Canadian girls - a reminder of ‘home sweet home.’ Close by also was the Beaver Club, an all-Canadian service club and oasis, where substantial meals were served at all hours by volunteer ladies. There was a staircase on either side of the entrance to the Beaver Club which led to a large landing. Many times I leaned on the bannister watching the entrance for Norwich boys and did visit with several.

A news clip from the Norwich Gazette, April 30, 1942

Upon completing a meal at the club I walked back to the Y, tidied up, and then started up the way toward the Lord High Admiral. It wasn’t dark yet, but I have vivid memories of Old London at night; amber street lights, seemingly long distances apart, tripping on the curbs up to the sidewalks, hundreds of people walking silently and little chatter, gaiety or laughter. One fear, I suppose, was that we might awaken an enemy airplane. War was serious business for each and every one of us. There were weak, grotesque shadows cast upon the nearby walls whenever we passed a street light. Then it was completely dark again. Who could forget it? What those stout-hearted people endured night after night, clinging to the hope of better days and that the lights would come on again.

The taxis were not so quiet with their dim headlights reaching into the dark, and they seemed to go a mile-a-minute. The daring drivers knew the roads like the back of their hands. It was to risk your life to cross the street. Taxis owned the roads at night, speeding past buses, horns honking, careening around corners with screeching tires as if there was no tomorrow. They never stopped; the buses, however, gave up about midnight.

‘It’s a Long Way to Tipperary’ according to the old song, and it was even further to The Lord High Admiral. At long last, just after dusk, I reached the blackout curtains and stepped into the lighted bar. My friends were right. This was not a hole-in-the-wall pub. This was a big place with a piano covered with beer mugs, a built-in player sitting on his piano stool under a blanket of smoke which reached down to sting his eyes. The first song that greeted me from the group of young service men and women at the piano was ‘Happy Days are Here Again.’ The lyrics, in part, went like this:

     Happy days are here again, blue skies above are clear again,
     Let’s sing a song of cheer again. Happy days are here again.

     All together shout it out, there’s no one who can doubt it now,
     So let’s tell the world about it now. Happy days are here again.

Songs such as this were good therapy during the Second World war. We could use some like it now during these hard times.

*   *   *   *   *

The above article begins, in part, with the lines, 'When I wasn’t in training on landing craft or on an invasion, I was usually in London or Glasgow. Most often I was in London where I had relatives.' I include this second article here, also written by my father, Doug Harrison (for his local paper, the Norwich Gazette, circa 1992), because it pertains to a Christmas dinner enjoyed with relatives in London, 1942.

Canadians in Combined Ops were involved in the invasion of North

Africa six weeks before sitting down to Christmas puddings, 1942

Christmas Pudding Came from Canada

[Norwich Gazette editor’s note: The Gazette has had on file several articles written by Doug Harrison before his death. So many people enjoyed his work, that we will be publishing the remaining articles.]

Dear Editor: I don’t know how to start this article but I must try. I am in the U.K. and moving from the Norwich, England area to London, England near Christmas Day, 1942. I was on leave and staying with my aunt (mother’s side) and uncle. I introduce them as Aunt Nellie and Uncle Wally.

A couple of friends came and five sat down to a great Christmas dinner complete with the English tradition of burning the pudding. The blinds were all drawn and the burning pudding made a nice sight. This was a first for me and I was a wee bit afraid at the opening explosion of rum.

The dinner ends, the dishes are put away, the friends depart and the three of us make ready to walk to South Kensington rail yard where work goes on, Christmas day and all. Remember there is a war and England is expecting an invasion. Uncle Wally works at the rail yard. But first we make a short pit stop at the South Kensington pub for a pint or two of ale, a few cracks at the dart board and off to work. It was quite a walk so Aunt Nellie and I took a bar stool and asked the Governor (owner) for a couple of pints. She gave Uncle Wally a peck on the cheek and he was off into the night through the black out doors. Aunt Nellie and I got to the singing stage, pushed our way through the canvas blackout doors and headed for home.

"In 2014, I was unable to locate the South Kensington rail yard or pub" (GH)

It was very dark, not a light to be seen except the amber coloured pole lamps. In the shadow of tall buildings it was darker still. We were almost unaware where we were going at times. Aunt Nellie and I walked arm in arm and without any notice she started singing a First World War song. My mother had taught me many WWI songs and soon we were singing song after song. Our mood was good and as we closed in on home, in a quiet moment I thought, we belong to London and London belongs to us. All is so quiet.

At the apartment we were met by the bomber alarm, a little wire-haired terrier. Dogs usually gave the alarm two or three minutes in advance of incoming planes. It was a busy day and I was soon sawing logs at 107 Emlyn Gardens, Shepherds Bush, Hammersmith, London, England.

Aunt Nellie lived to be 94 and I visited her twice. She was always thankful that my mother sent the ingredients (except for the rum for the burning) for the Christmas pudding in ’42. 

"In 2014, I did locate Emlyn Gardens. And I did chat with the occupant of 107"

Please link to Article re Combined Ops, "Lt. Comdr Jacob Koyl"

Photos GH

Training re Combined Operations, "Havant and Hayling Island"

Early Days in Combined Operations

Havant, Hayling Island: Photo - Hayling Is. Weather Map

In January, 1942, the first draft of Canadians to volunteer for Combined Operations crossed the Atlantic and arrived in Scotland.

Lloyd Evans, RCNVR and Combined Ops, writes: About ten days later we sailed up the River Clyde to Gourock in Scotland. The final stage of our journey was by bus to the Canadian Base HMCS Niobe a few miles away in Greenock. [Full story of the Atlantic voyage here.]

Doug Harrison, RCNVR and Combined Ops, adds: We spent little time at Niobe but entrained for Havant in southern England, to HMS Northney 1, a barracks (formerly a summer resort) with a large building for eating and then cabins with four bedrooms. This was January, 1942 and there was no heat in all the brick cabins. The toilets all froze and split. But we made out. Our eating quarters were heated.

I had the misfortune to break the toe next to my big toe on my left foot. I went to sick bay and someone applied mercurochrome, told me to carry out my usual duties and sent me away. Running, guard duty, anything, I toughed it out and was told many months later by a Scottish doctor it had healed perfectly - and so it had.

D. Harrison on guard duty with “a rifle with no ammunition”

We were issued brooms for guard duty in some cases at Northney, sometimes a rifle with no ammunition, and they were expecting a German invasion. Rounds were made every night outside by officers to see if we were alert and we would holler like Hell, “Who goes there? Advance and be recognized.” When you hollered loud enough you woke everyone in camp, so sentry duty was not so lonesome for a few minutes.

There was no training here (at Northney), so, as the navy goes, we went back to Niobe on March 21, 1942. I recall just now we were welcomed to Niobe by Lord Hee Haw (a turncoat) from Germany via the wireless radio.

In another article D. Harrison shares a little more information about those early days at Niobe and Northney:

Upon arriving at HMCS Niobe, the Canadian barracks at Greenock, we were filled in on our Special Duty, and it was revealed to us that we were to serve on landing craft. We weren’t allowed to lay around Niobe for long. The strange new world of landing craft, tides, currents, cold wind, rain and darkness beckoned those of us who were raw recruits, still getting used to the grub, currency and customs of a new land. This early training was at HMS Northney, Havant, near Portsmouth in the south of England.

*  *  *  *  *  *

At this time there seems to be little information recorded by Canadians about their experience at Northney 1. Below, however, one will find some interesting information regarding aforementioned training sites for Canadians in Combined Ops during 'early days' in their training. Links are provided for more, related information about the sites and other parties associated with Combined Operations.

1. D-Day on Your Doorstep

HMS Northney, Hayling Island

Location Type - Naval Base

Details:

Several Royal Navy bases on the eastern shore of Hayling Island bore this name (actually named HMS Northney I to IV). They were used for training of the crews of landing craft, enabling them to get familiar with the different types of smaller landing craft and the techniques for landing troops ashore - techniques that would be so important on and after D-Day. Normally seamen try to avoid running aground, so special training was required!

Link to D-Day Museum

2. Hayling Island in WW2 

The military significance of Hayling was recognised at the outbreak of WWll. It had been in the forefront of the pre-war holiday camp boom creating perfect accommodation for the many thousands of service personnel drafted in to train on the Island. The pre-war population of around 3,000 inhabitants increased to over three times that number, all being shipped in on the former Hayling Billy line.

The vast majority of servicemen were involved in landing craft training or construction and repair duties along the Chichester Harbour shore.

In June 1940 the Royal Navy requisitioned the Northney, Sunshine and Coronation Holiday Camps, renaming them HMS Northney 1, 2 and 3 respectively. Ready-made accommodation, canteen and recreational facilities for many hundreds made these ideal bases for sailors. Mill Rythe Holiday Camp was taken over by the Royal Marines, while Mill Rythe itself was the location of the HMS Northney dockyard facility for landing craft repair and maintenance.

On the Island’s far western tip lies a construction site for the Mulberry Harbour project, while a little further east, lies the Sinah gun site, established in 1939. 

Hayling played a very important part in the aerial defence of Portsmouth and the Dockyard, with three AA units who were billeted mainly in the Sinah area, particularly at the present Sinah Warren Hotel. 

Hayling Island Sailing Club made a major contribution to the war effort, hosting a top secret reconnaissance unit code named COPP, or Combined Operations Pilotage Parties. 

About Landing Craft

Hayling Island played a major role in many aspects of the Allied war effort during WWll. Its location on Chichester Harbour made it ideal as one of only two landing craft training and repair bases in the whole UK, and many thousands of Navy and Royal Marines personnel came to the Island to train along our eastern shore. The range of craft was wide, from the 50ft LCM [Mk3] to 117ft LCT [Mk1]craft designed to carry tanks, and the 158ft LCLs capable of transporting 200 troops and equipment.

As well as their purpose-made accommodation pre-war holiday camps had excellent halls, which provided recreation facilities for the troops. Coronation camp [Lakeside] was requisitioned for the armed forces and renamed HMS Northney 3, and held frequent dances for the service personnel and the locals. Island landgirl Phyl Rowe, met her future husband Gordon, who was a crewman on LCL8, at a dance in late 1943. They fell in love, but completely lost touch for many months when his landing craft sailed for the D-Day beaches without any warning in June 1944. He returned eventually and they were married at St Mary’s Church at the war’s end.

Link to Hayling At War

3. From Combined Operations Command

Northney

Function - training establishment for landing craft and Combined Ops camp.

Address and commissioning history - Hayling Island. The base was commissioned on 15/6/40 (without being named) under Victory III. It was known as HMS Northney from 26/1/41, was commissioned on 3/2/41 and paid off in Jan '46.

More information re training sites can be found at Combined Operations Command by Geoff Slee


4. Combined Operations Assault Pilotage parties - COPPs

Opening paragraph -

Their members, referred to as COPPists, risked their lives to gather information about proposed landing beaches and in-shore waters usually under the noses of enemy coastal defences including land and sea patrols. It was hazardous work of great importance. Visit their website at www.coppheroes.org for more information.

Background

Both by instinct and training sailors have a great respect for uncharted and unfamiliar coastal waters and given the option would choose to give them a wide berth. The natural hazards of submerged shoals, rocks and unknown tides and currents present a formidable challenge. Add to this submerged enemy coastal defences and patrols and the dangers and difficulties multiply several times. This was the scenario which confronted Lt. Commander Nigel Clogstoun-Willmott RN as he pondered a planned raid on Rhodes in the summer of 1941. He was the navigating officer for the raid.

More information re COPPs can be found at Combined Operations Command by Geoff Slee

5. COPP Heroes

The top secret COPP Depot was set up in 1943 on Hayling Island under the instruction of Lord Mountbatten. Small teams of sailors and soldiers trained as frogmen and canoeists for covert beach reconnaissance and other essential clandestine operations prior to the Allied landings on enemy occupied territory throughout the world.There are now very few members of the unit still with us.

Link to COPP Heroes

6. Peter Wild's Journal (at COPP Heroes)

Log from the time of leaving the United Kingdom, April 28th, 1943

I had volunteered for Special Services early in the Spring of 1942. In March 1943 I was taken at my word and summoned to Combined Operations head Quarters, leaving HMS Prince Charles at 24 hours notice. I was very sorry to leave her after 12 months.... When I reported to COHQ my interview was short and sweet and very much to the point. In short I was to join a party known as Combined Operations Pilotage parties (COPP) which was to leave for the Middle East - most likely Malta - within the month.... training was to be carried out.... to be done at the former yacht club, Sandy point, at Hayling island. On arrival there I was inundated with work and strenuous exercise....

April 28th

We went aboard Adventure, an old type Cruiser Minelayer. We spent a week aboard her going first to Gibraltar and then on to Algiers. That week was an invaluable experience because it was another type of ship visited....

To link to Peter Wild's full journal, go to Coppists, then to COPP 1, then to Wild, Peter Grenville, Lieutenant, RNVR; click on 'Read his log for April to September 1943'

7. D-Day at Your Doorstep: Hayling Island Sailing Club

Headquarters for Combined Operations Pilotage Parties

In August 1942, the disastrous Dieppe Raid proved to Allied commanders that a feasible invasion of France was still a long way off. Blaming inferior planning in response to the disaster, Lord Louis Mountbatten, Chief of Combined Operations ordered the formal establishment of the Combined Operations Pilotage Parties (COPPs). Its purpose was to employ clandestine tactics in order to survey potential landing sites for Allied troop deployment during the eventual invasion of France.

Hayling Island Sailing Club was chosen as the secret base for COPPs and the area was a suitable training ground for the eventual landing sites....

For more information link to D-Day Museum

More about Combined Ops Training: Please link to Training for Combined Operations - Sites and Stories, WW2

Context for Combined Ops, "Shipping Out, December 1943"

Back to North America for Christmas and Repair

Map of Salerno, Italy, from WITH UTMOST SPIRIT, Pg. 271

In the fall of 1943, some Canadian members of Combined Operations participated in the invasion of Italy at Reggio di Calabria (the toe of the boot). After transporting men and the materials of war across the Strait of Messina for about one month - described as easy by some men - they returned to the UK, then (as in the instance below) Canada, which was a pretty good way to finish the year's work, described below by Leading Seaman D. Harrison (RCNVR, Comb. Ops, 1941 - 45):

Our flotilla went back to Malta for a few days and from there we took fast Motor Torpedo boats to Bougie in North Africa and boarded a Dutch ship, the Queen Emma, whose propellor shaft was bent from a near miss with a bomb. In convoy we made about eight knots up the Mediterranean to Gibraltar, anchored inside the submarine nets for a couple of days, and slowly moved out one night for England. In true navy fashion, after landing at Gourock, near our Canadian barracks H.M.C.S. Niobe in Greenock, we entrained for a barracks at Lowestoffe, where on a clear day the church spires of Norwich could be seen. We spent a month there, then went by train to Niobe, received two new uniforms and a ticket aboard the Aquitania, arriving safely at Halifax on December 6th, 1943. I had a wonderful Christmas at home with Mother and family. It was sure nice to walk down Main Street (Norwich, Ontario) and meet the people. (Taken from an article re Combined Ops, "The Invasion of Italy")

Also in the fall of 1943, other Canadian members of Combined Operations participated in the invasion of Italy at Salerno (farther north on the western coast) and were witness or party to some very hot action, particularly if landing crafts past through the same waters at USS Rowan or Savannah.

Below are excerpts from WITH UTMOST SPIRIT: Allied Naval Operations in the Mediterranean, 1942 - 1945 by Barbara Tomblin that reveal the trying adventures of Savannah and her crew leading up to their return home - under hair-raising circumstances - 2 and a half weeks after the Aquitania.

September 10, 1943 - As Eisenhower suspected, the slowness of the Allied buildup was apparent to the German command as well, and they quickly reinforced the Salerno area. The Germans' ability to shift their forces quickly to the beachhead virtually assured that the struggle to secure control of the Salerno plain would be a bitter one.

Newspaper clipping showing some of the survivors of the Rowan, sunk off

Salerno, Sept. 11 1943. Photo credit - NavSource Naval History, R. Reeves

That the price of victory might be high was clearly indicated on the evening of D-Day Plus One when the destroyer Rowan was torpedoed by an enemy E-boat... Rowan sank in less than a minute with heavy loss of life....

September 11 - the cruiser Savannah was lying to in her support area in the Gulf of Salerno, her crew relaxing following a long night of enemy air activity.... a german Do217 dropped a bomb from eighteen thousand feet that some of Savannah's crew thought was an enemy plane shot down by a P-38. Captain Cary recognized the characteristic white tail and knew it was no ordinary bomb but a lethal new German FX-1400 radio-controlled bomb. He watched helplessly as the guided bomb hurtled toward him at over six hundred miles per hour, fell through the top of number 3 turret, and exploded deep within the ship, blowing a hole in her bottom.... Quick action by Captain Cary kept the Savannah from colliding with invasion shipping, and after what one officer described as "quite a hair-raising experience," at 0952 the ship cleared the transport area and headed out the swept channel. The ship's situation remained serious, however.... 

The force of the explosion had blown doors, wrinkled bulkheads, and blown all the sick bay doors open, and the ship had taken on a 7.5-degree list to port with fires and smoke in number 1, 2, and 3 turrets.... at 1008, a loud explosion knocked men to the deck and threw rescue workers off the top of number 3 turret.... word came that four men were trapped in Radio III, a small compartment on the starboard side of the ship below the waterline. They were unaware that the adjacent evaporator room had flooded and that two men had died trying to escape through the overhead hatch.... Garmy (one of the four trapped men) tried to attract attention to their plight by pounding on the bulkheads with a wrench and shouting into the phones. Eventually he heard a weak response. Rescue efforts had begun....

A diver from the USS Hopi, sent down to inspect the cruiser's bottom, reported a large hole to her port side and a seam with plates open for a length of fifty feet. Despite this disconcerting news, the condition of the ship improved.... and preparations were made to get underway. Within the hour, accompanied by Philadelphia and four destroyers, Savannah got underway for Malta even as another raid began in the Gulf of Salerno.... but below in the radio room the four trapped sailors still awaited rescue.

September 12 - At 2048 Savannah reached Grand Harbor, Malta, where the crew renewed efforts to reach the sailors in Radio III.... British shipyard workers drilled a hole through the deck to the radio room, where they found the four sailors alive and well after sixty hours in the compartment surrounded by tons of flood water.

With their rescue, Savannah's ordeal was over. All that remained was to recover and bury the bodies of the 163 men killed by the explosion and to patch up the cruiser's damage sufficiently so she could sail for permanent repairs at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, where she arrived on December 23.

Excerpts from Pages 273 - 275. 

The book can be previewed in its entirety at Google Books.

Please link to more information about Salerno "Operation AVALANCHE"

Please link to more Context for Combined Ops, "Smaller Items, Bigger Story"

Article re Combined Ops, "Lt. Comdr Jacob Koyl"

LT/COMDR JACOB KOYL EARNED MY RESPECT

By Doug Harrison, RCNVR and Combined Operations, 1941 - 45

"Dieppe veterans on Combined Operations maneuvers in the

Mediterranean, 1943" Back row, left, is Lt. Cdr. Jacob Koyl

Photo Credit - The Memory Project

[This article was orginally published in the Norwich Gazette, circa 1992]

In the spring of 1942, I was stationed for a short time in navy barracks at Roseneath, Scotland. As we Canadian sailors departed from Roseneath I was detailed to work on a baggage party by Leading Seaman Bowen. I told him I wasn’t fussy about handling kit bags and hammocks, to which he replied, “Fussy or not, just get at it and lend a hand.”

After a short argument I refused (which is bad, real bad) and he took me to have a chat with our huge, no-nonsense commanding officer Lt/Comdr Jacob Koyl*, later to be known as Uncle Jake. L/S Bowen explained his case about my refusal to Mr. Koyl. With that, Bowen was dismissed and the commanding officer laid his big hand on my shoulder and started to recite, without benefit of the navy book, King Rules (KR) and Admiralty Instructions (AI) about the seriousness of refusing an order.

I knew I was in for rough seas as he continued to expound, his big hand bowing my shoulder. Lt/Comdr Koyl wore navy boots so big they looked like the boxes they came in. I know, because I was looking at them; this officer didn’t walk, he plodded.

At the end of his recitation, this man, who later had the undying respect of every Canadian sailor under his command, said to me, “I am not going to punish you so it shows on your records. All I want my officers and men to do is work together so we can get the job done over here and we can all go home, and that includes baggage party.”

“Harrison!”

“Yes sir!”

“You will be stowing kit bags and hammocks today, and every time a baggage party is required, you will be front and centre, and I’ll be standing by with my little eye on you.”

With that, he took his big hand off my shoulder, I straightened up, saluted, and said a little prayer. I was one lucky sailor; he could have come down much harder on me. The Canadian naval officer had played defense for the old New York Rovers farm team of the New York Rangers in the old six team NHL of 1939 - 40. I remember the dressing down he gave me and how his fingers sank into my shoulder to emphasize a point. A few years later, I remember talking to my sons in the exact same way.

Our particular group of Canadian sailors moved from ship to ship often and our numbers steadily grew until there were approximately 250, and whenever we moved I was front and centre and, true to his word, Mr. Koyl was not too far away (smiling). Each time I was baggage party I learned a little more about KR and AI. I soon got to know over 200 kit bags personally and my muscles got larger like you wouldn’t believe. My knuckles were skinned on kit bag padlocks and my hands got burned on hammock lashings, and although I rose in rank under Mr. Koyl’s instruction, I remained baggage party. Badly bowed, but unbeaten, I had this job down to a science.

Mr. Koyl enjoyed every minute of it (I knew every wrinkle in his uniform), and once in awhile he heaped a few coals of fire on my head by thanking me for improving the time it took, and if there were medals struck for most improved sailor of the year and baggage party, he would be more than happy to recommend me. Yes sir! I never let on I heard his bantering; he had earned my respect as the hammocks flew and kit bags were piled high.

Late June, 1943 was the last time I helped move that huge mound of baggage. We were in Dejehli (sic), Egypt and we stowed them in a wonderfully clean army building there. I put a navy padlock on the door (I’m kingpin now), the baggage party walked to a waiting truck and none of us ever saw our gear again. Our clothing, photos, souvenirs, everything we owned, went missing.

It took a lot of years, but the baggage episode did have a happy ending for me. In August, 1990 Leading Seaman Harrison visited Leading Seaman Bowen** in Ottawa and L/S Bowen was detailed to carry my baggage from the car to the hotel room. Who was it that said, “It’s a long road that has no turning”?

Much decorated Lt/Comdr Jacob Koyl died in November, 1987 and was buried where he had earned his honours - at sea.

*Lt/Comdr Jacob Koyl - please link to J. E. Koyl's memoirs here.

**Leading Seaman Bowen - please link to Norm Bowen's audio file and transcript here

Please link to Article re Combined Ops, "The Invasion of Italy"

Short Story re Combined Ops, "Looking Back to Dieppe"

LOOKING BACK FROM LATER ON:

THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF DIEPPE

By Doug Harrison, RCNVR and Combined Operations, 1941 - 1945

[Originally published in the Norwich Gazette, 1992, then in St. Nazaire to Singapore: The Canadian Amphibious War, 1941 - 1945 (Volume 2)]

The truth as to why the mostly Canadian Forces raid on Dieppe took place on that tragic day of August 19, 1942 will probably never be known. For writers - for years after the war - anything pertaining to the Dieppe raid was dealing with censored or restricted material. Those in authority were possibly hoping a fateful error would be forgotten or become vague or hazy in the minds of the participants and non-participants alike.

Approximately seventy-one Canadian navy officers and ratings took part in the eventful raid, many manning landing craft carrying Canadian soldiers. Though the passage was calm they were hardly able to leave the craft to land on the beach of stones, backed by insurmountable cliffs in many places, facing tremendous German fire power. It reminds me of the Charge of the Light Brigade, only much worse......

For the Canadian Navy’s part there were ill omens from the start. Some Canadian sailors were separated from their group and put aboard plywood landing craft with English officers and sailors they hadn’t met before, let alone trained with. Aboard a landing-craft carrying ship, The Duke Of Wellington, loaded with Canadian soldiers, some members of the Black Watch preparing hand grenades had an unfortunate accident. One grenade exploded prematurely. A futile effort was made to throw it out of a porthole but it missed, bounced back and left one dead and eighteen wounded. They were taken ashore just before the ship sailed for the English Channel. The Non-Comm. officer who took them ashore was on the other hand fortunate. He missed the boat.

A small flotilla of landing craft had incredibly bad luck when in mid- channel, at 0347. They unexpectedly met with a small German convoy composed of one reasonably large ship and five small trawlers and E-boats. In the ensuing fire fight one of our Canadian naval officers, Sub/Lt. C.D. Wallace, was killed and lies buried at Dunkerque.

If any ship in the German convoy realized what they saw and got a message ashore then the cat was out of the bag hours before the landing. It has never been clear in my mind how the Allied masterminds had more knowledge of the beaches at North Africa, Sicily and Italy than they did of the beaches of France, less than 75 miles away. In the North African landing November 8, 1942, when dawn broke I was astonished that my landing craft was on the beach only a good stone’s throw away from a sidewalk cafe. Good reconnaissance.

At the actual landing amidst the hellfire that August morning 54 years ago (1942), one Canadian landing craft was struck by cannon fire and heavy machine gun fire. One seaman was killed and the coxswain severely wounded. The stoker, Robert Brown DSM*, although wounded himself, and our commanding officer tried to free the craft and worked feverishly to help the wounded, to no avail. Mercifully, after the day which seemed like eternity, they and the wounded coxswain were captured. The coxswain, Lloyd Campbell of London, died October 21 despite very good German medical attention and is buried in Berlin. Richard Cavanagh, the seaman, lies at his rest at Dieppe.

Stoker Brown, DSM and commanding Officer Robert McRae returned to Canada after POW Camp. I have visited both men. Mr. McRae lives in Toronto and taught as a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto. Brown’s life is a story in itself. He was accepted, at an early age, into the band of Six Nation Indians at Ohsweken, Ontario. I attended his funeral in March, 1989 and he is at rest among his native friends in the Anglican cemetery. One other Canadian sailor killed was Joe McKenna of PEI. His body was transported back to England and is buried in a small church cemetery amidst floral surroundings at Newhaven, the port from which he left that needless day.

So much has been written and captured films televised, with many reasons given for the raid. Possibly much was learned but I am convinced much more was lost.

*Robert Brown (seated), with Doug Harrison (left), and Billie Rose

Photo is dated 'May 21, 1988'

*  *  *  *  *

The editor of St. Nazaire to Singapore (Vol. 2) added the following footnote in a later version of the book:

For a long time I wondered if Doug Harrison was too suspicious in his comments about the screening of information related to Dieppe. However, recently, after reading the accounts of the dumping of Vice Admiral Baillie-Grohman as Naval officer in charge at Dieppe, I got some insight. He had been a very successful man in developing and directing Combined Operations in the Middle east before returning to the UK for Dieppe. He was wanting in his job, it seemed, too good a job. It might have endangered Churchill's use of ULTRA system. 

It seems that in order to keep the secret, a zone of apparent ignorance was necessary to guard against the Germans wising up to the fact that the Allies were reading and decoding all their audio telegraphy messages. This even included the daily reports of Hitler's generals to him which he required every morning. A strict censorship enabled the British to carry this intelligence block through to the end of the war and beyond. Even Stalin got camouflaged and restricted information which did not leak ULTRA. So there was something there after all which Doug was sensitive to and it cost the Vice Admiral his position because he wanted to make sense of his job and had to be blocked from doing it. Was it something Cliff Wallace sensed too in our last evening together?

"I don't know how, but I have such a feeling I won't get through it," he said. 

And another thing - the awareness of politics and war are never far apart.

Please link to another Story re Combined Operations - DIEPPE

Article re Combined Ops, "The Invasion of Italy"

The Invasion of Italy and Christmas in Canada

By Doug Harrison, RCNVR and Combined Operations, 1941 - 45

Invasion of Italy, Operation Baytown, Sept. 3rd, 1943

Photo credit - W. S. MacLeod, RAF Beach Units

[First published in the Norwich Gazette, circa 1992]

It was no different touching down on the Italian beach at Reggio di Calabria at around midnight, September 3, 1943 than on previous invasions. Naturally we felt our way slowly to our landing place. Everything was strangely quiet and we Canadian sailors were quite tense, expecting to be fired upon, but we touched down safely, discharged our cargo and left as orderly and quietly as possible.

In the morning light on our second trip to Italy across seven miles of the Messina Straits we saw how the Allied artillery barrage across the straits had levelled every conceivable thing; not a thing moved, the devastation was unbelievable and from day one we had no problems; it was easy come, easy go from Sicily to Italy.

We operated our landing craft under these conditions with skeleton crews and we enjoyed time off. Some of us went to Italy, hitched rides on army trucks, went as far as we were allowed to go and had a good look at some of Italy. We lived on the edge, because not far from the shoulder of the asphalt road were high cliffs and we could look down on the Adriatic sea, its beautiful beaches and menacing rocks.

I remember one of the many refugees of war, a barefoot lady dressed in a black sleeveless dress, carrying a huge black trunk on her head. I suppose it contained all her earthly belongings or it was very dear to her, and she walked along the coastal road back toward Reggio, to what, I’ll never know. I couldn’t have carried that load.

Our living quarters was a huge Sicilian home (in Messina) and some nights I slept on my hammock on a beautifully patterned marble floor. How-ever, since that was a hard bunk I sometimes slung my hammock, covered with mosquito netting, between two orange trees in the immense yard. Canned food was quite plentiful now and several young Sicilian boys, quite under-nourished, came begging for handouts, especially chocolota, as they called our chocolate bars.

I took a boy about 11 years old under my wing when off duty. In one corner of the yard was a low, square, cement-walled affair complete with a cement floor, tap and drain hole. It was here I introduced “Peepo” to Ivory soap, Colgate toothpaste and hair tonic for his short, shiny, ringletted black hair. My name was “Do-go” which I am still called today at navy reunions, and this boy really shone when I had finished his toilet. Peepo wasn’t too keen on soap and water and it certainly was obvious, but not for long.

I tried to learn some of his language, and he mine (the Canadian Marina). Although we were from countries thousands of miles apart, the war had brought us together and we got along famously. He and I also wandered about Messina. I went with Peepo to meet his Mamma. I took some canned food, chocolota and compost tea, a complete tea in a can exactly like a sardine can, with a key attached as well. Although the lad’s mother was forty-ish, she appeared older. Over a cup of tea, and with difficulty, Mrs. Guiseppe said she would do some laundry for me, and mending.

In order to heat water and cook a bit, our fellows cut large metal hardtack biscuit tins in half, filled them with sand, poured on gasoline and cooked to their heart’s content. The hardtack biscuits are a story in themselves, hard as a rock even after soaking in compost tea. I think some tins were marked 1917.

Some of the Sicilian homes were but hovels, with dirt floors, complete with goats, donkeys, and chickens in the kitchen. The population drank wine at meals as we would tea. I saw wagons being pulled by oxen. Wine (vino) in wooden barrels was everywhere and our flotilla tapped the odd barrel.

In the navy we just acquired things. A tent was set up on the beach after we acquired some salves, soap and gauze to treat the locals who had rashes and cuts, etc. The word spread about the Canadian Marina Hospital and one morning a few days after we opened, two very pregnant ladies appeared. The work of mercy ended, and very quickly I might add, amidst our embarrassment.

One evening an officer and I went on a short foray and acquired a few chickens. The officer had a cook, and I thought of home as I enjoyed a couple of drumsticks in payment for my part in the acquisition. (Oh! We left some chickens for the owner.)

About half of the Canadian sailors went back to England after the Sicilian campaign. That left about 125 to work about a month across the straits. During that time we received mail and parcels. We worked alongside captured Italian and Sicilian soldiers who were loading our landing craft, egged on by Sweet Caporal cigarettes and some canned food. There were no P.O.W. camps and prisoners wandered freely. The Germans had made good their well-planned escape ahead of the invasion. On occasion during the action along the beaches at Sicily and the quieter time at Italy, we often saw big green turtles swimming about. They didn’t know there was a war on.

Some buddies and I spent my 23rd birthday singing our lungs out in a cottage-style house near the beach, complete with a piano but incomplete with no roof. I had my guitar along and we all had some vino. About midnight with the hilarity in full swing, thunder rolled, the skies opened and the first rain in months came pouring in. Soaked inside and out we headed to where we belonged, singing “Show Me the Way to Go Home” as big as life and twice as natural.

One night shortly after that event I was all snug in my hammock, mosquito netting all tucked in (it took a while). I was ready to drop off to sleep when all hell broke loose on the beach. Machine gun fire, tracer bullets drawing colourful arcs in the dark sky. Someone shook my hammock and asked if I was coming to the beach party - Italy had thrown in the sponge. I said, “No, I’m not coming, and would you please keep it down to a dull roar because I want to log some sleep.”

After about a month Do-go had a tearful goodbye with his friend Peepo. He stood on the beach and I on my landing craft, waving our goodbyes. What a strange war. I have thought of him often.

Chuck Rose, Don Westbrook, Al Kirby, Joe Watson return to Canada.

The Aquitania arrived “safely at Halifax on December 6th, 1943”

Our flotilla went back to Malta for a few days and from there we took fast Motor Torpedo boats to Bougie in North Africa and boarded a Dutch ship, the Queen Emma, whose propellor shaft was bent from a near miss with a bomb. In convoy we made about eight knots up the Mediterranean to Gibraltar, anchored inside the submarine nets for a couple of days, and slowly moved out one night for England.

In true navy fashion, after landing at Gourock, near our Canadian barracks H.M.C.S. Niobe in Greenock, we entrained for a barracks at Lowestoffe, where on a clear day the church spires of Norwich could be seen. We spent a month there, then went by train to Niobe, received two new uniforms and a ticket aboard the Aquitania, arriving safely at Halifax on December 6th, 1943. I had a wonderful Christmas at home with Mother and family. It was sure nice to walk down Main Street and meet the people.

Please link to Article re Combined Ops, "Recalling a Wartime Christmas"