|
Tom Canvin, 10 Platoon, B Company,
1945
"I was watching the grass and weeds being mowed down by machine-gun 30 yards away, and knowing that if I moved he would know exactly where I was. When I hit the ground I landed on my rifle, so all I could do was look, and look I did. I saw little white puffs of
vapor rising from the the end of the barrel, and the grass falling over as it came closer. Those bullets came within 3 inches of my left shoulder, then started back away from me. I heard Lt. Wahn shouting, "give that man covering fire". I was taking a message to the tank commander, when the machine-gun opened up, and I had to hit the deck. I thought I had dropped
behind a tree, actually I did, but that machine-gunner was to the left of it. The MG stopped and I made it behind the tank just as it opened up again. At me. The tank couldn't get the gun down far enough,
so, we threw some smokes and got to hell out of there. The Lt. wanted me to be his batman, I told him ,"no way, you
don't know when to keep your head down". So I didn't become his batman, but it seemed like he always called me for those little jobs."
Tom Canvin, 1999
|
The Queen's Own Rifles, dug in on the north side of Carpiquet airport, Caen, France, 1944
Carpiquet Airport
"..we were sent out to get an 88 site. Shelling started. Bert Shepherd, me and another soldier all jumped into a trench, one on top of the other. Right away a shell hit the building next to the trench. The gable end of the wall came off and landed right over the trench. We yelled our heads off for hours. Finally, someone heard us. A tank came by and got the rubble off us."
Boots Bettridge, Queen's Own Rifles, scout/sniper
|
