Please find below a collection of paragraphs from books concerning WW1 and 2. All are reminders of times that should not silently slip from our memories.
"Epus P. Murphy's pet monkey went mad and we put it
in a bag of sand meant to douse incendiary bombs
and threw him over the side"
The following are excerpts from "DAD, WELL DONE", a collection of Navy memoirs and stories by my father, Doug Harrison, Leading Seaman Coxswain (a man of the barges), with RCNVR and Combined Operations, 1941- 45.
July 10, 1943.
We arrived off Sicily in the middle of the night
and stopped about four miles out. Other ships were
landing troops and new LCIs*, fairly large barges.
Soldiers went off each side of the foc’sle**,
down steps into the water and then ashore,
during which time we saw much tracer fire.
This was to be our worst yet invasion.
Those left aboard had to wait until daylight
so we went fishing for an hour or more,
but there were no fish.
A signal came through, i.e., ‘do not fire on low
flying aircraft, they are ours and towing gliders.’
What, in the dark?
Next morning, as we slowly moved in,
we saw gliders everywhere.
I saw them sticking out of the water,
crashed on land and in the vineyards.
In my twenty-seven days there
I did not see a glider intact.
We started unloading supplies with our LCMs
about a half mile off the beach and then
the worst began - German bombers.
We were bombed 36 times in the first 72 hours -
at dusk, at night, at dawn and all day long, and
they said we had complete command of the air.
And Then the Worst Began
July 10, 1943.
We arrived off Sicily in the middle of the night
and stopped about four miles out. Other ships were
landing troops and new LCIs*, fairly large barges.
Soldiers went off each side of the foc’sle**,
down steps into the water and then ashore,
during which time we saw much tracer fire.
This was to be our worst yet invasion.
Those left aboard had to wait until daylight
so we went fishing for an hour or more,
but there were no fish.
A signal came through, i.e., ‘do not fire on low
flying aircraft, they are ours and towing gliders.’
What, in the dark?
Next morning, as we slowly moved in,
we saw gliders everywhere.
I saw them sticking out of the water,
crashed on land and in the vineyards.
In my twenty-seven days there
I did not see a glider intact.
We started unloading supplies with our LCMs
about a half mile off the beach and then
the worst began - German bombers.
We were bombed 36 times in the first 72 hours -
at dusk, at night, at dawn and all day long, and
they said we had complete command of the air.
page 31
*landing craft for infantry
*landing craft for infantry
**forecastle
We fired at everything. I saw P38s, German
and Italian fighters and my first dogfights.
Stukas blew up working parties on the beach once
when I was only about one hundred feet out.
Utter death and carnage.
Our American gun crews had nothing but coffee
for three or four days and stayed close to their guns
all the time. I give them credit.
Utter Death and Carnage
and Italian fighters and my first dogfights.
Stukas blew up working parties on the beach once
when I was only about one hundred feet out.
Utter death and carnage.
Our American gun crews had nothing but coffee
for three or four days and stayed close to their guns
all the time. I give them credit.
[“I was only about one hundred feet out.
Utter death and carnage.”]
Utter death and carnage.”]
Epus P. Murphy’s pet monkey went mad
and we put it in a bag of sand meant to douse
incendiary bombs and threw him over the side.
The Russian Stoker on our ship, named Katanna,
said Dieppe was never like this and hid under
a winch. Shrapnel and bombs just rained down.
Once, with our LCM* loaded with high octane gas and
a Lorrie, we were heading for the beach when we saw
machine gun bullets stitching the water right towards us.
Fortunately, an LST** loaded with bofors (guns) opened up
and scared off the planes, or we were gone if the bullets
had hit the gas cans. I was hiding behind a truck tire,
so was Joe Watson***. What good would that have done?
Our beach had machine gun nests carved out of the ever-
present limestone, with slots cut in them to cover our beaches.
A few hand grenades tossed in during the night
silenced them forever.
page 31-32
*landing craft mechanized
**landing ship for tanks
***from Simcoe, Ontario
N.B. Above photo is of, and from, Lloyd Evans w another monkey, on another ship on its way to Sicily, 1943. Mr. Evans is now 90, and lives in Markham, Ont.
Small handfuls of men from the barges wrote about their adventures after WW2 was over. My father put his notes together in the mid-seventies and I am delighted to have them near at hand. Lloyd Evans is another. His recollections and photos are invaluable and remind me of days that are oft-forgotten but should not be.
The Russian Stoker (Bill) Katanna mentioned in the second piece is second from left in above photo. My father is back centre, left of man wearing Navy cap. Katanna's hammock is now housed in the Esquimalt Navy Museum, Vancouver Island. Names of 'men of the barges' aboard the SS Silver Walnut - on its way to the invasion of Sicily - are written upon it.
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