In the last years of Dad’s life, Veterans
Affairs Canada became a very important benefactor. They paid for all kinds of services, gear and
medications that would have been cash out of pocket to people with civilian
status. They were bureaucratic,
difficult to communicate with sometimes and slow but very, very generous. We often marveled at the quality of life he
was able to lead with their support in keeping him in his house.
So it was all because he sweated out the
war in the engine room of diesel fuelled landing craft, keeping the vessels
going in various ports in North Africa in preparation for the assault on
Italy. They had arrived at Gibraltar in
one of those craft, after crossing the Atlantic, from Virginia I think, – 25 of
them bouncing around with no military escort.
It was an experiment to see if it was possible, rather than sending the
vessels in parts to be assembled. These
men were expendable I guess but lived through it only to be stalled by the
King’s ship that had just docked! So the bullets were not coming straight at
him, he had a skill that kept him safe, and served him well in later years in
the auto industry.
Military
records state that he served as a stoker 1st class motor mechanic
and demobilized as a leading stoker with 578 days on the high seas. He talked about ports with exotic names like
Djeli and Bougi and the perils of the British 8th army combined
operations.
His brothers Dave, Hank and Bill were all
in the army. He said he wanted to sail
over and save them! There is collection
of medals that he was very proud of celebrating that mission.
The ships had great names like “Dinosaur”,
“Copra”, “Peregrine”,”Naden” and “Discovery”
When he returned, he entertained his
sisters by teaching them the ‘North African Shuffle’, a dance he totally made
up. He also remembers playing pool with
brother Bill and exchanging war stories.
Bill was in the trenches in France and the battle at Dieppe – quite a
different perspective that seeing it from the ocean!
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