"We didn't think much about the danger"
Al Kirby, a Canadian at Roseneath, Scotland, 1942
Photo Credit - The Memory Project
Link to five fine photos, including the one above, and an audio file related to the activities of Al Kirby (RCNVR, Comb. Ops, from Woodstock, Ontario) and other Canadians in Combined Operations at The Memory Project.
A portion of Al Kirby's transcript follows:
"At that time, I think I was 18 years old and for me, I was with a special group that they recruited here in Canada. They asked for volunteers to go over to England and drive landing craft in operations against the enemy coastline. And for a kid my age, at 18 years old, that really sounded exciting. We didn’t think much about the danger. To us, it was exciting. And we looked forward to being heroes and all that. I jumped at the chance and away I went over there and we trained with other Royal Navy people who had been conducting raids against the enemy coast all along. And then the Dieppe Raid was our very first chance to actually do it. And we were very excited about it. We wouldn’t have missed it for the world. But we quickly got over that cavalier ideal once we were at the receiving end of the enemy fire because it’s one thing to talk about it, but it’s something else to experience it."
Doug Harrison (left) and Al Kirby in Scotland, 1942 - 1943
There are more details one can read about Al Kirby's experiences found in Doug Harrison's memoirs. Please link to Memoirs re Combined Operations
Unattributed Photo by GH
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