["photo from ROME FELL TODAY by gah"]
"After about 38 days, the Army and
Air Force had won the day and Sicily
was freed. Our work was done."
[Doug Harrison V8809, RCNVR
page 109 "DAD, WELL DONE"]
About seventy years ago today a weak, weary and wasted group of Canadian Navy men said goodbye to their caves in Sicily (one nicknamed The Savoy), loaded their meager supplies and belongings onto WW2 landing craft and aimed their noses toward Malta. Some mop-up crews remained behind until the 18th of August but I think most members of the Canadian flotillas set sail on the 10th. My father may have shipped out even a few days earlier. He was sporting a lovely rib cage by then, and unbeknownst to him, his scanty meals were about to get even scantier. Doctor's orders.
[Map from COMBINED OPERATIONS, Clayton Marks, London Ont.]
"By the first week in August we had daily reports that
the beaches would soon be closed and our job finished.
However a few ships kept coming in because the port
of Catania hadn't fallen 'according to plan' and so we
had to unload these vehicles and supplies over the beaches
instead. On the ninth Jake (Koyl) received a signal announcing
our departure the following day under our own power for
Malta. Again speculation was rife as to our further disposal.
But the main thing as far as the boys were concerned was that
we were to be on the move again and none of us were sorry to
relinquish our cave dwelling for the prospects of barracks in
Malta. As we sailed away from the beaches where death and
destruction had reigned upon us in the early days of the
invasion there were sincere sighs of relief to be rid of the
place. Little did we dream that in three short weeks we would
be coming in sight of the same hills again on our way to Italy!
["...beaches would soon be closed and our job finished"]
of its pseudonym is a story in itself. GH) was completed in less
time than expected considering the fact that the craft were
just about ready to fall apart after a grueling four weeks work."
[pg. 97 - 98, COMBINED OPERATIONS, C. Marks]
When my father wrote down 40 pages of memoirs in 1975 he recalled his departure from Sicily in the following manner:
"After approximately 27 days I came down with severe chills
and then got dysentery. I was shipped to Malta on the Ulster
Monarch and an intern came around and handed me 26 pills.
[The Ulster Monarch appears at simplonpc.co.uk]
["A commando cleans his weapon aboard the Ulster Monarch":
see more at http://gallery.commandoveterans.org/]
At Malta I was let loose on my own to find Hill 10 Hospital.
I did after a while and they asked me my trouble. I said,
"Dysentery." "Oh, we'll soon cure that," they said. How?
"We won't give you anything to eat." So for four days all I
got was water and pills and soon I was cured, though weak.
I thought of those poor devils in the desert (i.e., Navy men
who arrived in Egyptian staging areas before my father did,
one month earlier).
When I felt better they sent me to a tent where I got regular
meals. I saw an air force newspaper and on the front was a
picture of Bob Alexander of Norwich, a school chum. But Bob
returned to the fray and was lost on one of his bombing missions.
How sorry I was to hear that news. He had already done so much.
[Bob Alexander (centre), 1936 high school photo]
[Doug Harrison (centre), 1936 high school photo]
Soon all the boys returned to Malta and we prepared for Italy..."
[pg. 34-35, "DAD, WELL DONE"]
Based on the information I have, my father was either eating a handful of pills at Hill 10 Hospital or getting a regular meal at a tent city in Malta, seventy years ago today. I'm sure he was grateful that the 'lizardly' Sicilian caves were behind him but also a bit anxious about what duties were coming up next. For the time being, he waited and added on a few needed pounds.
More to follow.
Photos by GH
***
Please click here to read Dad's Navy Days: August 1943 - Sicily (7)
3 comments:
I love to read your posts...your Dad sounds like he had a very interesting life. Mine was from California and used to mow thousands of acres by hand at Forrest Lawn Cemetery after school, where he earned two plots for his parents, who are now buried very close to Michael Jackson. Not as interesting but my Grandfather was a carpenter and helped make the first HOLLYWOOD sign...:-)I love old stories, keep writing!
Hi Mary Beth; your father must have been a patient, strong man - and likely covered lots of miles - to cut all that grass. I remember those heavy metal push mowers... no fun at all. My dad's father was a grave digger and knew his way around many a small town cemetery. More old stories re WW2 are on their way. Cheers, GH
:-)
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