1000 Men, 1000 Stories : Editor's Research: Invasion of Italy (24)

Canadians in Combined Operations are Going on Leave

Over 50 clippings are below, from The Montreal Star

Issues are from November 1 - 5, 1943

Not only do I present here another fine article by Sholto Watt, war correspondent for The Montreal Star, but more news about Canadians in Combined Operations who are going on leave back in Canada.

I found the news about our sailors (officers and ratings in RCNVR and Comb. Ops) going on leave to be significant because one of the officers, i.e., Lt. David J. Lewis of Montreal (fairly clear photo included!), later went on to continue* the drive to collect and publish memoirs and stories of Canadian veterans of Combined Ops in the 1990s and go on to publish those stories, etc., in two volumes entitled St. Nazaire to Singapore: The Canadian Amphibious War 1941 - 1945.

[Lewis was inspired to do so after reading Combined Operations by Londoner Clayton Marks, a book available through me as mentioned on this site.]

Good news and bad news. Bad news - the volumes are as rare as hens' teeth. I have my father's copies and was able to pick up a used set on Abebooks a few years ago - I say they were MINT and cheaper than my Dad paid back in the 1990s just to make you jealous - and have included many stories from the set on this site. (There is a Volume 2 available on Abebooks at time of writing this entry. Go get it!). But besides that, the books themselves will not increase in number.

Good news - the volumes were online, then taken off due to improvements being made to the presentation platform from the University of Alberta in Calgary, and now (at time of this entry) Volume 1 is back online!

Rare stories indeed re Canadians in Combined Ops by the veterans themselves, including David Lewis.

News From November 1, 1943

In a previous article, after describing his adventures aboard large navy vessels in the Adriatic Sea, Mr. Watt said he was going to follow Canadian troops on land in Italy. Below we read of his observations of a Canadian tank unit that included several men from Montreal. (I'm hoping he will tell of meeting Canadians in Combined Ops when he was in Reggio, but we shall see if that was the case as we pursue more of his news articles).

William Stewart, another stalwart of a war correspondent, is also reporting on Canadian troops, some from Ontario this time : ) -

This well-written article falls under the heading "There were no small roles during World War 2", in my opinion:

News about a pilot from St. Thomas, Ontario, just a few miles south of my home city:

News Reports and Headlines From November 2, 1943

I consider the following article to be significant for those wanting more information about Canadians in Combined Ops and their connection to Canadian commando units. I believe that, though there may have been a few Canadians in British Commando units, there were more in units known as Beach Commandos. They received training in Canada and the U.K. and had duties re securing beachheads as troops poured ashore from landing crafts, etc. LS. Edge may have been assigned to duties aboard an assault landing craft (ALC) that travelled to Sicily aboard a U.K. troopship.

I am going to offer articles as I find them that relate in some way to the problems many servicemen experienced related their mental health. I found it a bit ironic that the article below had another smaller report tucked up beside it... re pushing the pace, "increasing pressure" on the enemy:

I could tell the article below was going to be a dandy before I got past the headline. "Canadian Navy Off Sicily"... my father was involved along with many other Canadians in Combined Ops, on assault landing craft (ALCs) and landing craft, mechanised (LCMs), some for 4 weeks or more.

I was pleased to see a reference made to the Canadian flotillas of landing craft in the first sentence and down-right excited to find Lt. David J. Lewis mentioned, some one my father was acquainted with during WW2 war two activities as well as during the collection of veterans' stories for publication after the war (1990s).

Editor's Note: Before going back to the news article, I will add a few more relevant details about Myrtle the Turtle and Lt. Lewis. Unless stated otherwise, all of the following photos can be found in the two-volume set of WW2 veterans' stories St. Nazaire to Singapore: The Canadian Amphibious War.

First, a real live photo of Myrtle, with caption:

Myrtle in fact made front page news, as evidenced by this story attributed to Canadian Press, 1943 (CP). The story unfortunately is partially hidden by a photo (left side) but the story seems pretty straight-forward. Coincidentally, the issues of The Montreal Star I am currently researching are from the same month, so, with a bit of luck...

Lt. Bill Sinclair, in photo below, is mentioned several times in the 'St. Nazaire - Singapore' stories collected by Lt. lewis: