Short Story re Sicily, "Miss Canada", LCM 1022

Sicily: "Miss Canada", LCM 1022*, 80th Flotilla

By John E. Rimmer

"Members of John E. (Jack) Rimmer's flotilla aboard HMS Keren on its

way to Sicily, including Chuck Rose and Ted Sales, as in Jack's story"

"Miss Canada", LCM 1022*, 80th Flotilla

After two days unloading transports under trying conditions, very little sleep and what seems like constant air attacks, we were a tired and hungry crew. There was Chuck Rose, Ted Sale and myself and our M.M. who's name escapes me. In order to get a little rest and cook our supper of stew in a biscuit tin for a pot, we left our active beach, "GEORGE", and headed for the beach on our left which wasn't being used any longer. We tied up alongside a transport that had been hit and sunk 24 hours before in shallow water with her decks and superstructure out of the water.

The Morning After: The twisted upper works of the burning

Liberty Ship bombed at Noto Beach, now resting on the bottom. 

Photo - D. J. Lewis, St. Nazaire to Singapore, Vol. 1, page 185

We were just about to enjoy our long-awaited meal when the Luftwaffe paid our sector another visit. We figured we were okay where we were and we'd watch "GEORGE" beach get clobbered again when all hell broke loose. The shore batteries opened up over our heads and the Luftwaffe, seeing us alongside the transport, must have thought we were unloading her and gave us some special attention. Their bombs missed us but shrapnel from the shore batteries was falling around us so we let go our lines and headed for the protection from the cliffs where the shore batteries were....

We eventually found a cave where we slept safe from the Luftwaffe who in the first 48 hours launched 23 air raids on our sector, sinking five ships including the hospital ship (Talamba)....

I was seventeen years old when I volunteered for Combined Ops. What experiences we had with the Queen of Bermuda striking a reef off of Halifax in December 1941 on our first trip overseas. Then later in the Volendam, losing HMS Belmont on 31 January, 1942, while I was on watch on the twelve pounder. Then next evening the conning tower of a U-Boat passing under our stern, and countless other scares during our eleven day voyage, arriving in Scotland, 9 February, 1942.

I turned 18 the day we arrived in Portsmouth on the Ennerdale, after being attacked by JU 88 in the channel off Eddystone lighthouse the night before. I was beginning to think I might never see my 18th birthday....

The Eddystone Lighthouse is 9 statute miles (14 km) south of Rame Head, England

Photo Credit - The UK Rivers Guidebook

It is my experience as a member of two non-Combined Ops groups, the Legion and the White Ensign Club, that most vets don't have a clue as to what we were; after all, who ever heard of a sailor living in tents on the desert? Or sleeping in caves in Sicily. Our own government doesn't seem to know. Maybe it is time a book was written for the public.

The full account of John Rimmer's short story about Sicily can be found at St. Nazaire to Singapore, Vol. 1, on page 193.

Please link to Short Story re Sicily, "An Unknown Destination"

*Editor's note - "January (1944) - Landing craft mechanised (MkIII), LCM No. 623, 910, 930, 1022, 1064, 1173, 204 (total 7, 52t each), lost in Operation Shingle, Anzio Landings, W Italy. Date approximate." As found at Naval History 'Lost at Sea'

Please link to Short Story re Sicily, "An Unknown Destination"

Unattributed Photo - From the collection of Doug Harrison