Research: A Good Book, a Good Connection

CBC Correspondent in Italy, Sept. 1943 (So Was Dad)

Canadian 80th Flotilla, including my father, in Italy, Sept. 1943

David Halton's book about his father's writing, reporting and broadcasting career - including significant work during World war II - is the type I cannot put down. When I returned it to a friend yesterday he said in amazement, "Done already?"

Three days. It took three days to read it thoroughly and I savoured every page - during morning coffee, after meals, while riding my exercise bike. David was writing about his father and I saw my own on several pages. That's the type of read I enjoy most.

Matt Halton produced a deep, rich supply of outstanding stories

Matt Halton and my father likely swam in the same water and walked - bare-bummed - on the same beaches in North Africa, though perhaps a year apart as far as their written accounts go. But they may have crossed from Messina, Sicily to Reggio de Calabria, Italy during the same week in September, 1943, and possibly in the same flotilla of landing craft.

Photo as found in Dispatches From The Front. M. Halton, far left

The book tells us Matt and "several other correspondents" stood nervously at Messina, very near the shore of the seven-mile-wide strait that separates Sicily from Italy,  and "along with hundreds of young soldiers from Maritime regiments" on September 2, 1943. My father was on an Allied craft designed to carry tanks (LST), not too far away.

Matt recalls that he and other correspondents selected to cross "with the first assault wave of Canadian troops" were soon witness to one of the greatest bombardments by Allied guns during the war.

From Page 191, Dispatches From The Front

My father very likely witnessed the same bombardment from the vantage point of the LST, and shortly after the guns had stopped, he began the first of several seven-mile-long journies to Italy's shore. While transporting Allied supplies, he saw the terrible results of bombardment.

He writes:

There was no resistance. The air force had done a complete job and there wasn’t a whole building standing and the railroad yards were ripped to shreds. How long we worked across the straits I cannot really recall, but perhaps into October. ("DAD, WELL DONE", Page 35

Mr. Hanlon writes that his father was not greeted by Germans once in Reggio di Calabria but by surrendering Italian soldiers. He notes that Mussolini was no longer in power ("overthrown") and that Italy's new leaders "would formally capitulate on September 8."

Matt Hanlon, fond of a reason to celebrate with a drink, very likely raised a glass on September 8. 

About that same time my father writes the following:

About half of the Canadian sailors went back to England after the Sicilian campaign. That left about 125 (of us) to work about a month across the straits. During that time we received mail and parcels. We worked alongside captured Italian and Sicilian soldiers who were loading our landing craft, egged on by Sweet Caporal cigarettes and some canned food. There were no P.O.W. camps and prisoners wandered freely. The Germans had made good their well-planned escape ahead of the invasion. On occasion during the action along the beaches at Sicily and the quieter time at Italy, we often saw big green turtles swimming about. They didn’t know there was a war on.

Some buddies and I spent my 23rd birthday (Sept. 6, 1943) singing our lungs out in a cottage-style house near the beach (Sicily), complete with a piano but incomplete with no roof. I had my guitar along and we all had some vino. About midnight with the hilarity in full swing, thunder rolled, the skies opened and the first rain in months came pouring in. Soaked inside and out we headed to where we belonged, singing “Show Me the Way to Go Home” as big as life and twice as natural.

One night shortly after that event I was all snug in my hammock, mosquito netting all tucked in (it took a while). I was ready to drop off to sleep when all hell broke loose on the beach. Machine gun fire, tracer bullets drawing colourful arcs in the dark sky. Someone shook my hammock and asked if I was coming to the beach party - Italy had thrown in the sponge. I said, “No, I’m not coming, and would you please keep it down to a dull roar because I want to log some sleep.” (The Norwich Gazette, circa 1992)

So, it seems my father raised a glass as well. Perhaps one too many. ("Go easy on the vino, Doug," I would say).

Naval ratings off duty enjoying a bathe on the North African coast

at Oran or Mers-El-Kebir. Photo - Imperial War Museum, Nov. 1942

Mr. Halton and Mr. Harrison saw many of the same sights, bared their butt cheeks when opportunities arose, crossed the same straits at the same time and likely toasted Allied victories and mourned losses of good friends and mates at similar times and in similar ways.

I salute them both.

Please link to Research: In Comox and Courtenay, BC (10).

Photos GH

It Strikes Me Funny - The NEXT Big Thing

Fruit Loops? 3D Glasses? Hop Scotch?

It won't be the Hoola Hoop. It won't be plaid bell bottoms. It won't be platform shoes, a Beatles reunion tour or 4D movies. Impossible.

The NEXT Big Thing will very likely be in the form of book entitled The GREAT CANADIAN COMEBACK by none other than a little guy in Old South London who is actually doing just that - making an astonishing comeback from who knows (no one really knows...) how far back.

"How does he do it? No one can tell!"

Why, just yesterday - making it look just as easy as you please (although it's really not) - he walked for two hours in Springbank Park, and that's after taking his last, exhausting, motorcycle ride of the year. Why, HERCULEAN doesn't come close to describing his efforts on an almost daily basis to complete 'The Great Canadian Comeback'.

On sale soon in really high end bookstores near you.

: )

Be there. Be square.

Link to Long Road Back 38

Photos GH

My Morning Smile - Pulitzer Prize Winner?

Box O' Books

I like getting mail, especially if it signals the end result of a lengthy project and the beginning of becoming a milionaire.

I will set them up at Gathering on the Green in June.

Note to self: Build one small birdhouse-style bookcase.

Link to My Morning Smile

Photos GH

WW2: Recommended Reading 5

Several dozen books about World War II line a book shelf in my study. I plan to buy dozens more, each one another small yet important piece in a long wide puzzle that will never be made complete in my lifetime or anyone else's. Too many pieces. Too few memories on paper.

Even one event, like the Allied raid on Dieppe in August, 1942 is a jigsaw puzzle of very large size. So far, I only possess one book solely dedicated to it, and I recommend it here.

Like many of my books, I found a copy of Unauthorized Action in a used book store. The text is dense but flows along smoothly. Photographs are helpful, authentic, and chiefly from the National War Museum, Ottawa. The book informs us there is an official text re the Dieppe raid that argues 'that many lessons of great value were learned from Dieppe', but I am not surprised many questions and opposite reactions remain 'til this day.

["Though some lessons were learned, we can now

see that none were unknown beforehand..."]

["...or could not have been learned far more

easily and at far less cost by other means."]

My father, who missed participating in the raid by one day, summarized a newspaper column about it in this way:

     So much has been written and captured films televised,
     with many reasons given for the raid. Possibly much was
     learned but I am convinced much more was lost.
     (The Norwich Gazette, 1992)

I highlight one paragraph in the book's introduction to whet your appetite for books concerning the raid:

If you like tramping around used book stores I say your efforts will be well-rewarded once this book is found.

Photos by GH

More WW2: Recommended Reading

World War 2: Ten Powerful Sentences, Poignant Stories

Sometimes I'll hit a line in a war book that hits back between the eyes. Or a small paragraph will raise big questions or provide significant answers concerning, for example, certain events and causes, consequences and 'butchers' bills' of WW2. I'll usually wonder where my father was at the time.

 [Front cover of SIEGE: MALTA 1940 - 1943]

This series of ten posts will serve as a small collection of some of the most powerful lines or sentences I've encountered so far in my travels.

A Savage Curtain of Metal

This 'entrance', such as it was, to Grand

Harbour was now irretrievably blocked.

Meanwhile, caught in the full glare of

the searchlights, the EMBs* as they raced

towards harbour were blown to pieces.

The Maltese gunners had waited many months

for attack from the sea, and when it came

they let their feelings of frustrated vengeance

come to the boil in the waters outside.

Within two minutes most of the attackers

were dead and every boat was sunk.

All the bravery in the world could not avail

against such a savage curtain of metal.

[Page 95, SIEGE: MALTA 1940 - 1943]

* explosive motor boats of the Italian Decima Flottiglia Mas (The Tenth Light Flotilla), "piloted by one man seated in an ejector seat so that he could blow himself clear before the moment of impact with his target" (pg. 93)

Photos GH

More WW2 Recommended Reading

World War 2: Recommended reading

The Canadians at War 1939/45 Volume 1 and 2

I've recommended these two books in the past and will again. Excellent reads from a Canadian point of view, by Readers' Digest. Worth the search in used book stores.

["From page 568, Volume 2"]

Something I read recently, about the importance of advances in radar during WW2, brought the thought to mind that piecing together and seeing significant connections between countless events - small and large - that occurred during the war is like slowly assembling the world's largest jigsaw puzzle.

One will never get to the end of it. But the work must continue if we're to understand a battle that shook all continents to the core and set off rumblings that still shake the ground beneath our feet.

Photo by GH

More Recommended Reading

Recommended Reading: The Canadians at War 1939/45 (2)

I'm really getting my money's worth out of this used, two-volume set of books from Reader's Digest (my younger son Paul found them for $15). I've read the first volume and 1/4 of the second and have gained a wealth of information about Canada's role in WW2.

     Halfway through the war, Canada had become
     one of the most powerful of the Allied countries.
     The nation so woefully weak in 1939 was now
     making enormous contributions to the eventual
     victory. [flyleaf, Vol. 2]

Dozens of chapters and individual stories paint a vibrant, horrendous (at times), and finally triumphant story that affects all Canadians to this day. Some sentences, paragraphs or stories take me to the very beaches and ports my father visited between December, 1941 and December, 1943, i.e., to his first landing in Scotland, then to his training locales - in part - in Southampton in southern England, to later invasion sites in North Africa, Sicily and Italy, and to his return home via Halifax 70 years ago this month.

The pages of each volume contain significant history and personal lessons:

["My father landed troops/supplies on Sept. 3 at Reggio Calabria"]

["Did my father see this particular scene?"]

["Many lessons learned in war"]

["A high percentage of bomber crews never returned"]

["So, Canada's troops went off to Sicily in July, 1943"]

["Men of Combined Operations landed Canadian

troops in various boats and barges"]

["Homework - does the Haida still survive?"]

I recommend these books highly to those wishing to learn more about Canada's role in World War 2.

Photos by GH from Volume 2

Please click here to read more Recommended Reading

Recommended Reading: Unlikely Hero

Unlikely Hero was written by two Londoners (G. Kerr, D. MacKenzie) in 1997 and is about the WW2 experiences of Don (Donovan) Errey of Wallaceburg, some of which are eerily similar to my father's own during the same time period. I read the 75-page book quickly and with great interest.

A photo of Don appears on the front cover, taken while he was a POW in a German prison camp or hospital. How he got there after the Dieppe raid in August, 1942 is a stirring tale, but what he accomplished on behalf of others while a POW is inspiring, to say the very least.

["Don E., kneeling on floor, attempts to fit an

artificial limb upon Sgt. R. (Salty) Salt"]

One particular line says much about Don's energy and efforts while a soldier with The Scottish Essex regiment and German prisoner:

     Don's creative talent and abundant energy, which had
     found their outlet in destructive acts and playful activities,
     were now channeled into constructive and humanitarian
     efforts. (pg. 62)

This book may be found on a London library shelf. I bought my used (and autographed) copy for $2 at the Central Library Bookstore on November 11th, during my walk home from our city's Remembrance Day service at Victoria Park. I feel the book is an excellent find, and even better read.

Photos by GH

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Please click here to read Recommended Reading: The Canadians at War 1939/45

Recommended Reading: The Canadians at War 1939/45

I started reading the first book of a two-volume set before Remembrance Day and will likely have my nose deep into this Reader's Digest offering (c 1969) well into December. I know, now 60 per cent finished Volume 1, the trip back in time will be worth the full effort.  Just the chapter re the Dieppe raid, August, 1942 - a very Canadian venture (of 6,500 Allied troops over 5,000 were from Canada) that ended in near disaster - rewards anyone's search for these rare books.

["My son found these in London, $15 for set"]

My interest in WW2 books is both personal and academic: My father was a member of the RCN Volunteer Reserve (Leading Seaman Coxswain and volunteer in Combined Operations) from 1941 - 45, and I would like to know more about 'where he was and when', and I'd like to learn more about how WW2 affected our course as a nation (and affects, to this day).

On a personal note, I read in my father's navy memoirs that he missed Dieppe by one day. From his vantage point on the southern coast of England, he saw the ships and barges destined for Dieppe fill with troops and supplies and then disembark.

About the tragic day he writes:

     I wasn't there because I was on leave but came back
     early (because, though I didn't know where, I knew there
     was a raid coming) and was in a position to see the Duke
     of Wellington carrying barges, my oppo and other buddies
     to Dieppe and certain death for the soldiers. There was a
     mishap before they even got to sea, i.e., soldiers were ready-
     ing hand grenades and one somehow exploded and four were
     killed and many injured. It was an ill omen.
     [pg.21, "Dad, Well Done"]

And he saw them return the next day:

["Dieppe troops transferring from battered barges to

jammed destroyer": pg. 194-5, Canadians at War] 

     I lost my first comrades at Dieppe. Others were wounded.
     O/S Kavanaugh - killed. O/S Jack McKenna - killed. A/B
     Lloyd Campbell, London, Ontario died of wounds after his
     legs were nearly cut off by machine gun fire. Imagine Higgins
     boats made of 3/4 inch plywood going in on a beach like that.

     Lieutenant McRae, our commander, Stoker Brown, and
     others I don't recall were taken prisoner. And lots of people
     don't even know Canada's navy was represented at Dieppe.
     [Note - my father wrote the last comment in 1974. The Navy's
     effort may be better known today.] I was on leave at Calshot
     Camp in Southampton at the time, but was asked to go and
     clean up ALCs as they struggled back from Dieppe. I absol-
     utely refused. I was so incensed I also refused to go to church
     there. I went to the door but never went in. Nothing became
     of my refusals. In fact, I went through the war without one
     mark against my record.

["The bottom (of the boat) was covered with soldiers.

Everyone who had tried to leave... had been cut down":

Canadian correspondent Ross Munro. Photo pg. 181, Ibid]  

That day, along with only a smattering of returned troops and shocked war correspondents, my father could well imagine a Higgins boat being torn apart, and the return of many battered Assault Landing Crafts (ALCs) with fewer occupants - some his close comrades - than when they set out the night before. In later years I'm certain he could remember even a longer list of grisly events, but mixed within were memories of happier times, important times. However, whether he ever saw any useful purpose associated with the Dieppe raid is unlikely.

["Did the Dieppe raid lead to German mistakes in the future?"]

Make plans soon for a tramp through a few good 'used' book stores. Relive our significant (and Canadian) past.

Photos by GH 

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You can borrow my set but I'll need to keep your car keys until returned.

Please click here for more Recommended Reading, i.e., Ballantine's Illustrated series

fun and fitness: "back in the groove"

I'm at it again and I don't mean 'readin' and ridin'. I've been doing that for years for fun and fitness.

["Another new record. Over 800 extra miles in the bank"]

I mean setting new records. It took me a few months to earn back those extra miles I lost during a wee vacation awhile ago, but over the last few months I've been earning them back... by hitting my goal of riding an exercise bike 100 miles per week... and more. In late September I bagged 20 extra miles (see above photo) and set a new record. And last week I bagged an extra five (see below).

["105 miles last week. Now I've biked 811 extra miles"]

Sure, some younger guys can still beat me to the puck on occasion during my weekly hockey game but I usually surprise them with my super-sonic speed in the last period. Good legs, I say.

Reading good books, however, is still my favourite pastime and I've noticed the miles fly by while my mind is engaged and the pages are turning.

Last stop was Malta. I recommend you journey there yourself sometime. Just hop on a bike and go! 

Photos by GH

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Please click here to read more miles and books to go

  

Fun and Fitness: "Always have a good book handy"

I had my work cut out for me last night. I needed to pedal 36 miles on my exercise bike to reach my week's goal, i.e., 105 miles of pedalling or other such exercise.

["I did it! I even pedalled 0.2 extra miles! That's huge" : ) ]

Fortunately, I'm reading a very good book at the  moment re WW2, 'An Army at Dawn', and I'm at the part where the US and English troops are trying to move east from the north shores of North Africa (Nov., 1942) to engage and dispatch the German forces in Tunis. Tough times for all concerned, I know, including my father.

Father was a member of the RCNVR from 1941 - 45 and helped bring landing craft ashore in North Africa, Sicily and Italy. As a Leading Seaman (later a Coxswain) he delivered troops, jerry cans full of gasoline, bulldozers, and whatever else an army needed to wage a war upon land.

So, when I have a long way to pedal, a good book keeps the fire going.

Photo by GH

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Fun and Fitness: "Monster Monday works for me"

Last week I knew there was trouble ahead - so I wrote about it, of course - but I found enough time in my busy schedule to collect 100 points for exercise. (4 - 5 minutes of exercise = about 1 pt.)

["When I reach 800 'extra miles' I'll take 8 weeks off!"]

And Monster Monday certainly helped me reach my goal. For two Mondays in a row I cycled 40 miles on my exercise bike and fit in more cycling, walking and hockey when I could, enough to collect 114.5 pt. two weeks ago and 109 last week, and enough to set two consecutive new records for 'extra miles' (N.R.).

["I cover 40 miles in about 2.5 hr. That's a good reading time"]

This evening - to keep the streak alive, I plan to go for another long 'Monster' ride and read another chapter or two of 'The Day of Battle', Volume 2 of The Liberation Trilogy by Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Atkinson. Good books and Monster Mondays are working for me!

[This book is 'Recommended Reading']

Photos by GH

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What works for you?

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Recommended Reading: "This will get expensive!"

The Day of Battle is volume two of The Liberation Trilogy by Rick Atkinson and details the war in Sicily and Italy, 1943 - 44. I am one third of the way through, enjoying the read immensely and saying the following to my wife: What do I want for Christmas? Volume 1 and 3.

A month ago I had Volume 1 in my hand but replaced it with a book by a local author, Fuhrer, Folk and Fatherland, also a very good read. (More about that book later). I should have got them both. My father's first major battle was in North Africa, his second was Sicily, then on to Italy.

Though father's Navy memoirs contain information about both military engagements, Mr. Atkinson piles on meaningful details by the tonne. I'm knee deep in WW2 history and can't get enough. (Off to the bookstore I go if my wife doesn't find the two other volumes. My budget will take a whack but that's why I make birdhouses).

["Father circumnavigated Africa aboard SS Silver Walnut, 1943"]

Even the 25-page prologue I found information that relates directly to my father's Navy service: After the Allied victory in North Africa the Suez Canal reopened, "saving two months' sailing time for convoys going out to India from Britain, since they no longer had to circumnavigate Africa." As it turned out, however, the Canal did not open soon enough to prevent my father's trip around Africa on his way to Sicily, 1943. But that's another story.

For those wishing to learn more about Sicily and Italy, I highly recommend Atkinson's book.

Photos by GH    

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Have you read a gripping book about WW2 recently? Let me know.

Please click here for more Recommended Reading

Recommended Reading: Voices From WORLD WAR II

I’ve only read the first of hundreds of trues stories - from people who were there - but already i recommend this book. It falls so well on the heels of my last book, i.e., The Day We Went to War.

I know I’ll enjoy my ‘reading and riding’ while I pedal my way to the last story.

[Photos by GH]

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Please click here for more Recommended Reading

  

Recommended Reading: “The Day We Went to War”

Thumbs up for a book that presents information about a critical time during WW2 in a unique way.

Many details from various sources are shared, for example, about Sept. 3, 1939, the day England declared war on Germany. Details from Parliament, soldiers, diarists, ordinary people, etc.

Bonus: While reviewing the cast of characters (in the final pages), I spotted books to look up once space comes available on my shelf.

[Photos by G.Harrison]

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Do you recommend something?

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Ollie and Me: “The lamb chops were impossibly thick”

Yesterday my heart was warmed by the knowledge grandson Ollie missed me while I was away recently. We cuddled up with a good book (’60 Impossible Things to do Before Lunch’) soon after he arrived for the day.

Before I closed the book I added my own story.

“Last Friday I ate three lamb chops for supper on the train. Really. I know it sounds impossible, but they were this thick!”

[Home Sweet Home: Photos by P. Harrison]

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Please click here for more Ollie and Me.

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