Audio: George Richmond - Combined Ops, Normandy

George Richmond, Navy and Combined Operations

D-Day Landing with Life Line as found in Combined Operations, (Pg. 111) C. Marks

Introduction: One will find hundreds of audio files related to the experiences of men and women associated with many branches of Canadian Armed Forces and Canadian organizations (e.g., Red Cross, CWAC, etc.) at The Memory Project. Most audio files are accompanied by authentic WW2 photos and a written transcript.

Please link to audio files at The Memory Project (Page 94) related to the activities of George Richmond, Navy, and Bill Renwick, Army, that touch on their memories related to war time experiences in France. George was a member of an LCI(L) crew, along with approx. 20 other Canadians in Combined Operations, in Normandy, June 1944. Bill, from Hamilton, was a member of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion and before becoming a prisoner of war had a memorable experience shortly after landing in France.

Link to George Richmond, Navy, Combined Operations at The Memory Project

Part of George's transcript follows:

After fourteen months on the ship I joined a thousand other naval types and volunteered for combined operations. We found ourselves on a troop ship bound for England. We were assigned to repair and man three flotillas of infantry landing craft for the invasion of France. Altogether, they transported about forty-five hundred Canadian troops to the beaches on D-Day. When temporary docks were put in place, the smaller craft were not used as much and they began disbanding the landing craft flotillas.

Please link to Bill Renwick, Army at The Memory Project

Part of Bill's transcript follows:

I seen a man... I seen a man with a cart about the second day. We were going down to check out an area to see if we could find out how many Germans was in it. And he was walking up the road and he had his daughter in his hands and he had a tarp over the... the wagon. And one of our guys, who spoke pretty good French, asked him if he'd seen any Germans up the road. He took the time to say they were around the bend where we were coming, there was a German machine gun nest. He couldn't thank us enough for coming. And yet you could see he had been crying and that. And in that cart, we found out after when the tarp was moved, that his wife and his son, who had been killed by our bombs - our bombers. And yet he could take the time to try and explain to us because here we were finally setting them free after four years or so under the Germans. It don't make any sense. You lose a family and yet you're shaking somebody's hand or kiss them on the cheek and saying, "Thanks for coming." Your mind becomes fuddled when you start seeing some of these things. Three days after D-Day, I became a prisoner of war.

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