Presentation: All Background Notes - Dad's Navy Days

Dad's Navy Days, 1941 - 1945

By G. A. Harrison

Introduction: I have assembled a good deal of background information from various sources (e.g., books, memoirs and photographs related to Canada's role in the Combined Operations organization during WW2) for an upcoming, hour-long presentation.  It is fair to say I have leaned most heavily on my father's memoirs, newspaper articles and submissions to Combined Ops books. I will attempt to not only inform listeners about one man's journey but encourage them to learn more about the 100s of Canadians who manned landing craft during Allied raids and invasions (e.g., at Dieppe, North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Normandy).

Parts 1 - 11 contain far more information than can be shared in a single hour so will serve as home base or background notes for an edited, trimmed-down version (soon to be underway). A Resource List for listeners is also provided below.

Use the links below to view individual sections of background notes:

Part 1 - Signing Up for the Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve

Part 2 - Early Training at HMCS Star in Hamilton, 1941

Part 3 (1) - Halifax Training is Tough, Combined Operations Even Tougher

Part 3 (2) - Halifax Training is Tough, Combined Operations Even Tougher

Part 3 (3) - Halifax Training is Tough, Combined Operations Even Tougher

Part 4 (1) - Combined Operations Training in the UK

Part 4 (2) - Initial Combined Ops Training in Southern England

Part 4 (3) - Initial Combined Ops Training in Scotland. A) H.M.S. Quebec

Part 4 (4) - Initial Combined Ops Training in Scotland. B) Camp Auchengate (Navy)

Part 5 (1) - Concerning the Dieppe Raid - Operation Rutter, July 1942

Part 5 (2) - Concerning the Dieppe Raid - Operation Jubilee, August 19, 1942

Part 5 (3) - Concerning the Dieppe Raid - Operation Jubilee, August 19, 1942

Part 5 (4) - Concerning the Dieppe Raid - Operation Jubilee, August 19, 1942

Part 6 (1) - Operation TORCH - Invasion of North Africa, November 8, 1942

Part 6 (2) - Operation TORCH - Invasion of North Africa, November 8, 1942

Part 7 - On Leave: Gracie Purvis, Christmas Pudding and Lively Pubs 

Part 8 (1) - Operation HUSKY - The Invasion of Sicily, July 1943

Part 8 (2) - Operation HUSKY - The Invasion of Sicily, July 1943

Part 9 - Rest, Recuperation and Repair in Malta - August 1943

Part 10 (1) - Invasion of Italy, Sept. 1943 - Operations AVALANCHE, BAYTOWN

Part 10 (2) - Invasion of Italy, Sept. 1943 - Operations AVALANCHE, BAYTOWN

Part 11 - Late 1943. Return to UK, Then Canada. Comb. Ops in Comox, B.C. 

The following sentences are found very near the end of my father's Navy memoirs:

     "It would cost a small fortune today to retrace the places I had been to and seen under the White Ensign. At D-Day I was at H.M.S. Givenchy III but many of our boys took part in that too."

I will continue to travel to the places where my father trained and performed wartime service, i.e., 'Hostilities Only'. Though he did not participate in D-Day Normandy, I will try to collect more information about the Canadians in Combined Ops who did.

G. Harrison

List of Resources related to Presentation

re Canadians in Combined Operations, WW2

Books:

"DAD, WELL DONE" The Navy Memoirs of Leading Seaman Coxswain Doug Harrison, compiled by Gord Harrison

Combined Operations by Londoner Clayton Marks

St. Nazaire to Singapore: The Canadian Amphibious War 1941 - 1945, (2 volumes) by David and Kit Lewis and Len Birkenes

Citizen Sailors: Chronicles of Canada's Naval Reserve 1910 - 2010 by RH Gimblett and ML Hadley

The Watery Maze - The Story of Combined Operations by Bernard Fergusson

Dieppe, Dieppe, by Brereton Greenhous

Websites:

1,000 Men, 1,000 Stories - Canadians in Combined Operations, WW2, by Gord Harrison @
http://wavynavy.blogspot.ca/

Combined Operations Command by Geoff Slee, Scotland, @ http://www.combinedops.com/

St. Nazaire to Singapore: The Canadian Amphibious War 1941 - 1945 Volumes 1 and 2 @ Canada’s Local Histories Online http://www.ourroots.ca

Web Links to Stories:

The Grounding of the Queen of Bermuda, 1941 @
http://wavynavy.blogspot.ca/2016/03/story-canadas-early-days-in-combined-ops.html

Small Landing Craft Training - http://www.combinedops.com/Training%20in%20Landing%20Craft%20Operations.htm

Full Interview, London Free Press, 1944 - NORWICH BOYS IN THICK OF TWO INVASIONS - http://wavynavy.blogspot.ca/2016/01/articles-re-combined-ops-norwich-boys.html

Dieppe: The Landing by Lt. R.F. McRae - http://www.ourroots.ca/e/page.aspx?id=882820

“REINA DEL PACIFICO SERVED WELL IN WAR YEARS” - Gazette article (1990s) - @
http://wavynavy.blogspot.ca/2016/01/short-story-re-combined-ops-n-africa.html

Unattributed Photo GH