Landing Craft Operators in Combined Operations, WW2
Photo includes both Seaman Spencer and Stoker Birkenes,
and other Canadians in RCNVR and Combined Operations
From St. Nazaire to Singapore, Vol. 1 Page 80
DIEPPE, August 1942
We Only Knew Him Seven Hours
Dear Pops,
Well, we've come through our first big show
and still going strong. I suppose you have learned
from Mother that I was at Dieppe.
Some sights I saw: My Ordinary Seaman Owen of
All those months of training have not been in vain after all.
I could not find a better crew in the whole R.C.N.
They were wonderful! Never a moment of panic.
Some sights I saw: My Ordinary Seaman Owen of
Hamilton, blasting hell out of a Ju.88 with a .303 rifle;
and Able Seaman Spencer of Toronto, our Cox'n,
sweating blood in every pore inside his little box,
says out of his armoured slit, "We're going like hell Sir,
but it's the slowest hell I've ever seen";
and Lewis Gunner Smart, also from Hamilton, muttering
"My bloody oath" at every Jerry plane he saw (which was
pretty often) then letting them have a whole pan of ammo.
Smart wears an A.A.3 badge that he's not entitled to wear,
burst into flames, I'm letting him keep the badge;
Stoker Birkenes, from deep in the heart of Alberta,
who is in the Black Hole of Calcutta (Engine Room),
hearing everything and seeing nothing.
That boy deserves a medal!
A squadron of Hurribombers is lacing
the front of the town with cannon.
I never saw anything as beautiful as a Spitfire.
As it will happen, we lost some of our very good men.
As it will happen, we lost some of our very good men.
Two Canadian Officers from another Flotilla got it.
I believe I mentioned one of them in my last letter.
Bob McRae, who was our former Flotilla Officer and
one of the best (taken P.O.W. to the end of the war).
Cliff Wallace from Montreal, who I have shared cabins
with off and on since coming across, was killed.
Our own Flotilla Officer got it also. We only knew
him seven hours but I would go anywhere with him.
Unfortunately some of our best ratings
from the other Flotillas got their packet.
As found in Letter from Sub/Lt. Dana Ramsay to his father
NORTH AFRICA, November 1942
There was a Terrible Explosion
for a couple of days until a Royal Navy destroyer
put a stop to it by several well-placed shells....
Some days later the "Clan McTaggart" sailed in a
small convoy to Gibraltar with orders to join other convoys
all northbound under escort to the United Kingdom.
Unfortunately we developed engine problems that
necessitated repairs to be made in Gibraltar....
we were (later) given permission to sail alone
and catch up to the convoy.
At about 1600-1800 we sailed
and I remember standing on a bridge watch
from midnight to 0400 when I was relieved.
I went below and had just jumped into my bunk (top)
when there was a terrible explosion. I ran up on deck
and was advised we had been torpedoed.
I then went back to my cabin to check on my cabin mate,
S/L Harold Walkely, who was still sound asleep.
To wake him I had to literally pull him out of bed....
I remember vaguely moving around the ship
in search of people needing help. The ship had settled
by this time but was considerably lower in the water.
The Captain ordered 'abandon ship'
and a number of people jumped in the water
or shinnied down the boat falls into the water.
I remember being picked up by a Carley float
and then transferring onto a half empty lifeboat.
We pulled around the "Clan" looking for people and it
was there we could see three follows standing on the stern.
I believe one of them was Leading Seaman Grimmon.
All three went down with the ship.
As found in Story re North Africa, S. S. Clan MacTaggart
by Lloyd (Luke) Williams
"Jeep, tank mesh, and more equipment, all from 'ship
to shore' on LCMs": From Combined Operations
SICILY, July 1943
Never Free From Danger
Sunrise came at approximately 0600.
A JU88 put in an appearance. A little later
two Messerschmitts swept down to strafe the ship with
cannon. They were ineffectual, however, and too late.
Reinforcements were streaming shoreward in
uninterrupted processions of landing craft, and by
two pm the assault Flotillas had done their work....
The 80th and 81st LCM Flotillas began their work
The 80th and 81st LCM Flotillas began their work
four hours after the LCAs but instead of finishing
in twelve hours, they were occupied for some ten weeks,
first on Sicily and then on the Italian mainland.
During the four weeks that followed, the work
of landing stores and reinforcements settled down
into a routine for the craft of the 80th and 81st Flotillas.
It was a grinding routine, and it was never free from danger.
Every type of cargo had to come ashore in their craft;
Every type of cargo had to come ashore in their craft;
sixteen-ton tanks, heavy trucks, tiers of cans of
high-octane gasoline, ammunition, army rations, small arms
and mortars. Heavy seas often made both the run-ins
and the work of loading and unloading very difficult.
The huge requirements of the arms put heavy pressure
on the ferry system, and for the first 48 hours of the operation
every man remained on the job without rest. Even after that,
the best arrangements that could be worked out
was a routine of 48 hours on and 24 hours off.
As found in The 55th, 61st, 80th, 81st Canadian Flotillas in Sicily
By Lt. Cdr L. Williams, RCNVR, RTD
Please link to Passages: Airborne Glider Mishaps, Sicily
As found in The 55th, 61st, 80th, 81st Canadian Flotillas in Sicily
By Lt. Cdr L. Williams, RCNVR, RTD
Please link to Passages: Airborne Glider Mishaps, Sicily
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