Article: Six Canadian Sailors Make Headlines (1).

Interviews Touch on Dieppe, North Africa, Sicily and Italy

Canadians in Combined Ops land safely in Comox B.C. in Jan., 1944.

Three of these Navy boys provided interviews before leaving Ontario.

Introduction:

Over the last few months I have added dozens of entries to 1,000 Men, 1,000 Stories dealing with news from Italy and the Mediterranean Front, from September to December, 1943 (i.e., chiefly newspaper articles with supporting notes, photographs from navy memoirs, etc.). Canadians in RCNVR and Combined Operations were very active during the first half of that time period.

After the routine of transporting troops and supplies from Sicily to Italy, or from ship to shore, was well-established and chiefly in the hands of the Royal and U.S. navies, the 80th Flotilla of Canadian landing crafts returned to England (e.g., via transport ships from N. African ports and Gibraltar). Exact dates are unknown but they likely arrived in England in November, 1943 to go on leave.

There are records to inform us that the Canadians - because they had concluded about two years of service - also received pay (in British pound notes) for their service and soon prepared to return to Canada for home leave. (More details about their two years of overseas service and subsequent return to Canada to follow).

The official process they went through to return to service in various places (Vancouver Island, Halifax Harbour, overseas, etc.) I do not cover here, and I do not know if they were assigned new service or volunteered. (I lean toward 'volunteered').

How several Canadians ended up on Vancouver Island in January, 1944, at Canada's only Combined Operations training camp (HMCS Givenchy III), and what their role was, makes for an interesting story, and details will be shared on this site (see Comox B.C. in right hand margin under 'click on HEADINGS'). 

That being said, between the time many Canadian sailors returned to Canada in early December, 1943, and the time several were given new assignments on the east and west coasts of Canada, various news reporters - linked to the city or region from which the sailors left home two years earlier - caught up to them and gathered some informative, detailed interviews.

Five such interviews will be presented in this series of posts at 1,000 Men.

Three of the four sailors interviewed appear in the top photograph found in my father's collection.

Second from left in the back row stands the only young sailor I do not recognize, and I cannot identify him by name at this moment*. The other eight Canadian sailors (RCNVR, Combined Operations) I do know.

Left to Right:

Back: Don Linder, Kitchener. Unknown Rating*.
Middle: Joe Spencer, Toronto. Joe Watson, Simcoe (interviewed). Buryl McIntyre, Norwich (interviewed). Art Warrick, Hamilton.
Front: Doug Harrison, Norwich (interviewed). Chuck Rose, Chippawa. Ed Chambers

(*If I find a name, I will add it to the list.)

I also know 'the eight sailors' volunteered for RCNVR at Ontario Navy establishments in mid-1941, went through initial training where they enlisted, and travelled to HMCS Stadacona in Halifax for further training in summer-fall 1941.

I know that while in Halifax they heard the Royal Navy needed help with the war effort. From stories I've read, "Help Wanted" posters were tacked on bulletin boards at Canadian bases, perhaps similar to posters that attracted Canadian men (and boys) to the RCNVR.

MEN WANTED! RCNVR poster at Naval Museum in Victoria, BC

 Says Al Kirby of Woodstock, Ontario:

     In December of 1941, I was finishing my Seaman Torpedo Course at the Torpedo School in Halifax Dockyard, when I saw on the bulletin board, a notice asking for volunteers to go to England to train with the Royal Navy for hazardous duties on small craft. I immediately thought "M.T.B.s" (Motorized Torpedo Boats). (The Yardarm - Volume 5, Number 1, Page 9)

Says Doug Harrison (my father) of Norwich:

     Time passed quickly at Stadacona in Halifax and by this time nearly everyone had paired off in threes, buddies, or in naval language, ‘oppo.’

     One day we heard a mess deck buzz or rumour that the navy was looking for volunteers for special duties overseas, with nine days leave thrown in. Many from the Effingham Division, including myself, once again volunteered. (Will I ever quit volunteering?) The buzz turned out to be true and we came home on leave, which involved three days coming home on a train, three days at home and three days on the train going back. ("Dad, Well Done" Page 8)

What they did not know when they volunteered 'once again' was that they were automatically connected to the Combined Operations organization and would soon be schooled to handle and maintain landing crafts, beginning at HMS Northney on the southern coast of England in early 1942. And after a short stint at HMS Northney they would be transferred to HMS Quebec (on Loch Fyne, south of Inveraray, Scotland) as well as Camp Auchengate/RAF Dundonald, south of Irvine.

Their stints of early training were soon followed by their first action, i.e., the Dieppe Raid, eventually held on Aug. 19, 1942, after a failed attempt (Operation Rutter) in early July, 1942. 

Art Warrick, Hamilton, appears in the top B&W photo from B.C., early 1944.

Immediately above, Art W. is in Scotland, 1942 (HMS Quebec, Loch Fyne,

receiving landing craft training). Photo courtesy of a NZ visitor to 1,000

Men, 1,000 Stories. Click here for more details re landing crafts/training.

They would have been aware that 'hazardous duties' or hostile, fiery service of some kind would mark their future, because they had originally volunteered for "Hostilities" or "Hostilities Only" -  for the length of the war. They were just never told 'the where or when or for how long' until the very last minute. And even then, details were kept to the bare minimum.

Under 'Period Volunteered for' we read "Hostilities" (i.e., while Canada is

at war). Dad volunteered ("again") for RN/Combined. Ops in Dec. 1941

As well, what they seemed to know while training or involved in operations, was that after two years of active service overseas they would receive - at the very least - a break in the action, or a healthy time on leave.

My father recalls the following after leaving the Mediterranean theatre of war, "after our work from Sicily to Italy was done and our armies were advancing," (i.e., mid-October, 1943) and after returning to the United Kingdom:

     We arrived at (HMCS) Niobe barracks in Scotland and in true navy style were put on a train and sent to Lowestoft in England, not too far from Norwich, England (my hometown's namesake or visa versa) on or near the east coast...

     I heard a mess deck buzz. We were getting a lot of money and going on leave. The stipulated time for ratings is twenty-four months overseas and we were closing in. No more raids. Thanks God, for pulling me through...

     After my leave (i.e., in the UK) I went back to Lowestoft, then to Greenock, then was loaded on a ship back to Canada and 52 days leave. Mum waited at Brantford Station for every train for days and I never came. And when I did arrive she wasn't there. 

     But she sure made a big fuss when she saw me and we cried an ocean full of tears. It was nice to be home again, Mum. It was coming up to Christmas and quite a few times I thought I would never see another one. I thank God for his protection. ("Dad, Well Done", Page 37-38)

In 1975, while my father sat at his kitchen table in Norwich, Ontario, and - over several days or weeks - compiled 45 pages of written notes about his WW2 experiences, he felt very thankful to be alive and able to tell his tale.

And going back to December, 1943, and those days at the Brantford train station when his anxious mother stood waiting - "for every train for days" - hoping he would arrive at any moment, an unnamed reporter with The Brantford Expositor somehow might have caught wind of a good story in the offing. He or she might have thought, "If I could just hook up with a returning sailor, why, I might have myself one of those stories that almost writes itself."

Though I was unable to find a writer's name attached to the following news article or interview, I am certain it did not write itself. It sounds like the interview took place about a week to ten days after Doug arrived back in Canada (i.e., Halifax, aboard the Aquitania, December 6th), and it appeared in The Expositor in January, 1944.

ABOARD THE AQUITANIA: Dad wrote 'Rosie, Westy' to indicate Chuck Rose

(front left) and Don Westbrook (front centre) in the centre knot of five Canadian

sailors. Al Kirby is on the right of that same group, with a big laugh starting,

his Mae West over his shoulder. Straightening his collar is Joe Watson

(to the right of the group of five), and  behind Joe is Doug H. (Dad).

Caption: HOME FROM ITALY - Leading Seaman Doug Harrison, Norwich, who is home on leave after two years of active service on naval and combined operations overseas. He played a part in the successive invasions of North Africa, Sicily and Italy, and came through many heavy bombings. Staff photo from The Brantford Expositor, 1944 

The article continues:

     ...the Norwich boy went overseas almost immediately, and since his arrival in Britain he has been on loan to the Royal Navy. Both in training and in subsequent operations, his duties have been to see that invasion barges “get the goods to the soldiers at the right time, on the right beach.” His reference to “goods,” he explained, meant food, ammunition, trucks, and every other variety of war supplies.

NORTH AFRICA “EASY”

His share in the North African campaign was “quite easy,” he said. His point of invasion was at Arzeu, a short distance from Oran, on the Algerian coast. That was in November of last year, and it was his first operation after a year of training.

A12671. Troops and ammunition for light guns being brought ashore from a landing
craft assault (ramped) (LCA 428) on Arzeu beach, Algeria, North Africa, whilst
another LCA (LCA 287) approaches the beach. Operation 'Torch', Nov. 1942. 

Photo Credit - Lt. F. A. Hudson, Imperial War Museum (IWM)

“I missed going to Dieppe by just one day,” he said. He had been on leave, and returned to duty just as the Dieppe casualty lists were coming in. Seven of his combined operations colleagues failed to come back from that cross-Channel venture.

SICILY “PLENTY HOT”

The Sicilian invasion he described as plenty hot. “We had 72 air raids in 36 hours,” he said. “We were bombed for three or four hours at a stretch, every night and every morning for a month, from the time the invasion started July 10.”

“We found the people of Sicily in bad condition, nearly starving. We practically kept them, with our own food. I saw boys 19 years old, only as big as Canadian boys of 11 or 12. They were begging for food all the time.”

EASY AGAIN

The Italian campaign was “easy,” so far as his share of the invasion was concerned, he said. “There was nothing to it. It was just a matter of walking in and taking over, after a 55-minute bombardment of Reggio Calabria, on the toe of the Italian boot, by naval guns and rocket guns.”

Leading Seaman Harrison, who drove a truck for the Norwich Co-operative before enlisting for naval service at the age of 20, is the son of Mrs. Alice Harrison, Norwich. He has a brother, Corporal Roland Harrison, R.C.A.F., stationed at No. 5 Service Flying training school, Brantford.

The Canadians overseas are doing a great job, he said. Omitting the navy for evident reasons of modesty, he had high praise for the Canadian Army and the R.C.A.F. “In my estimation the Canadian Army is the best in the world,” he said.

“WRITE TO THE BOYS”

“Anybody who has relatives overseas should write lots of letters,” he advised. “The Canadian boys like to get mail. It’s as welcome as pay day - in fact, in Italy it’s even more welcome because they can’t spend money there.”

He saw many active servicemen from Brantford, Norwich, and other points in this district. “They’re a good-looking bunch of lads, husky boys, and all tanned up,” he said.

LS. Harrison expects to return overseas on completion of his leave at home. He said he would not commit himself by making any prediction as to the length of the war, as the enemy was “a pretty tough customer, and will take a lot of beating.”

A second staff photograph from the Brantford newspaper. GH

Details in the form of news reports, photographs, videos and audio files related to the Dieppe Raid and invasions of North Africa, Sicily and Italy are growing in number on this site. Readers can access material I have collected by clicking on appropriate headings listed in the right hand margin. 

Many items reveal a little bit more that directly or indirectly affected my father's own war experience. For example, from the above interview I learn that he said he was "on loan to the Royal Navy," though I usually state he was connected to the Combined Operations organization, and both are true. 

Other interviews confirm that the Navy boys received constant attention from the German airforce while in Sicily, and that Italy was a much easier invasion.

I also learn that he expected to return to Europe after his 52 days leave. However, he was placed instead at a Navy base on Vancouver Island and helped with the training of new sailors. His time in B.C. "was heaven" he writes in memoirs. How the placement process worked at that time I do not know at this time.  

More interviews with Canadians in Combined Operations to follow.

Readers who have any questions or comments about this initial post or Combined Operations in general can reach me via email: gordh7700@gmail.com

Please link to Articles: Canadian Flotilla of Landing Craft in Italy (4).

Unattributed Photos GH