far away but close to home - copianen.copian.ca/library/learning/faraway/stories/s4/s4.pdf · 2015....

Funding for this project has been provided through a grant by the National Literacy Secretariat

This is a project of the Eastern Shore and Musquodoboit Valley Community Learning Initiative.

The Community Learning Initiative thanks the Veterans, War Brides, and other people who shared their stories for this project. The CLI also thanks the Students and Staff of the Duncan MacMillan High School, Sheet Harbour, the MacPhee House Community Museum, Sheet Harbour, and the Administration of the Eastern Shore Memorial Hospital, Sheet Harbour for their help in the production of these books.

Research by Julie Meyers, Porter's Lake Written and Edited by John Wood, Sober Island

Published March 2001 by The Musquodoboit Valley and Eastern Shore Learning Initiative

Site 3 Comp. 17, RR1 Head of Jeddore Nova Scotia, Canada. B0J 1P0

Tel 902 889 2243

Cover images ©2000 ArtToday.com and courtesy of Elmo Logan.

©2000-2001 The Musquodobit Valley and Eastern Shore Community Learning Initiative

http://www.nald.ca/nls.htm

FAR AWAY BUT CLOSE TO HOME

LOCAL PEOPLE REMEMBER WAR AND PEACE

Introduction

This is a project of the National Literacy Secretariat, and the Eastern Shore-Musquodoboit Valley Community Learning Initiative. These stories are intended to assist Level 1 and 2 adult literacy learners and their tutors. Each book of stories has a work book that goes with it. Copies may be made of any material in these books for the purpose of assisting literacy learners. Copyright is held by the Eastern Shore-Musquodoboit Valley Community Learning Initiative. Materials outside the ownership of the CLI and its contractors are used by permission.

These are stories from the Second World War, 1939-1945, and the years that followed. The story-tellers are from, or are now living along, the Eastern Shore and Musquodoboit Valley of Nova Scotia.

The stories reflect the attitudes of the story-tellers, and their times. It is not the intention of the National Literacy Secretariat, or the Community Learning Initiative to give offence to anyone in the telling of these stories.

There are maps either with the stories or at the front of the book.

VETERANS STORIES 3 - STEVE JENNER (2) - REAGH CANNING - GWEN WALLACE



FAR AWAY BUT CLOSE TO HOME - VETERANS STORIES 3

CONTENTS

Stories by Steve Jenner : Musquodoboit Harbour Title Words

Beauty in the Islands 73

Get Ready! 147

My first Command 133

Off to the East 128

Victory Day Rum 121

Quite Different 72

End of the war 89

Set free 84

Fresh bread 106

A kick in the butt 75

Could have been worse 76

Under the ice 129

Stories by Reagh Canning : Upper Musquodoboit

Skipping shells 112

Keep the water out 134

Leave 107

It takes all sorts 139

D-Day 138

Night pushes 125

Shrapnel 147

Jack be nimble 146

Trail rides 93

Grim find 112

Stories by Gwen Wallace : East Chezzetcook

Trouble spot 103

First class 96

Don’t look down! 90

Dangerous romance 72

Afternoons off 112

Eat it before it melts! 88

Tearful farewell 80

MAPS

All maps: © Bartholomew Ltd Reproduced by Kind Permission of HarperCollins Publishers


THE WORLD

Maps: ©2001 www.arttoday.com


Destroyer.

©2001www.arttoday.com

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Beauty in the islands

Steve Jenner : Musquodoboit Harbour

My next submarine, in which I was second in command, was based at Rothesay on the Clyde. That is on the West Coast of Scotland. We sometimes went up the coast to Tobermory to work on new destroyers.

Tobermory is on the island of Mull. The Captain would take his wife along when we went there. The views are very like the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia. It is very beautiful.

73 Words

©2001 www.arttoday.com


Admiral : Top naval officer.


Galley : Kitchen of a ship.

Frigate : Naval ship smaller than a destroyer.

Corvette : Smaller than a frigate,

©2001www.arttoday.com but bigger than a

minesweeper,


or an M.T.B.


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Get ready!


The base at Tobermory was run by a retired Admiral. He had a work-up team. They were full of energy. It was work, day and night. Any hour of the night the Admiral lead his inspection team across from the ship. You know, they would set a fire on the galley on these new destroyers. They would create chaos in order to get people properly trained. The crews only had three weeks to get ready to go to sea, escorting convoys to Russia. It was hell on earth. As far as the destroyers, and the frigates, and the corvettes were concerned, they got no peace for three weeks. They never knew when the Admiral would be climbing over the stern. They were a real fun bunch of guys! The submarines didn’t get all this treatment. We were part of the work-up team training the escort crews.

147 Words




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My first Command


We were due to go back to our base in Rothesay, but the Captain went sick. Who is going to take the ship to sea? It couldn't be me, could it? I only had one miserable, thin stripe on my arm, and a wavy stripe at that! Everybody else must have been junior to me! There were quick phone calls between Tobermory and Rothesay. In the end the Commander of Submarines said to the Admiral, "We might as well let him take the ship down, he will be escorted down, and he will be on the surface all the way." So I got my first command at age twenty-one or twenty-two, with one stripe. Some aircraft flew rather low at us before we got to the Clyde, otherwise it was trouble free.

133 Words



Ceylon : Now called Sri Lanka.


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Off to the East Steve Jenner : Musquodoboit Harbour

The Regular Navy had lost many officers in the war. Reserve officers like me were given the chance to fill in the gaps. My boss told me, “If you want to apply, I will recommend you.” And so I did, I put my name in. I volunteered again. Somewhat to my surprise, I got accepted. I got sent to a submarine that was getting ready to go to the Far East. I was made a Regular officer. We sailed for the Far East and arrived in the North end of Ceylon. It was a big naval base. It was really the naval base for the Indian Ocean at the time. There were quite a lot of destroyers and aircraft carriers. There was a submarine squadron there too.

128 Words



VE : Victory in Europe.


Divisions : Like assembly.

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Victory Day rum


We sailed for our first patrol on VE Day. It was May 7th.1945. We went to Divisions in the morning. We all went to breakfast in our best Whites and paraded, and had prayers of course. We said our grateful thanks for VE Day and all that. Then we went back to work and finished storing ship. For us the war against Japan was still on. Put the last of the potatoes down below, and that sort of thing. Around noon there was a tot of rum for everybody. It was called "Splicing the Main Brace". All the sailors had two tots. We sailed for our patrol station shortly after lunch, and slept most of the way.

121 Words



Humid : Wet and sticky.



Cruiser : Warship bigger than a destroyer.

x-craft : Small fast patrol boat like an MTB.


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Quite different Steve Jenner : Musquodoboit Harbour

Our first Far East submarine patrol was spent around the Andaman Islands, and all the way down to South of Singapore in the Malacca Strait. It was hot and humid. It was not like laying mines in the Aegean sea. Mostly we chased Japanese cruisers. We never got close to the Japanese. In the end they were sunk by x-craft out of Singapore. We didn't have coastal targets to destroy either.

72 Words



Atom Bomb.


Supreme : Over everything.

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End of the war


We did two patrols from Celon, then the Atom Bombs dropped. We’d been in harbour about a week when the atom bomb was dropped. Mountbatten was Supreme Commander in the Far East. He wanted the peace signed in Singapore. He wanted it to be really a big show. So he wanted all the fleet there, and he wanted a submarine too. We’d been in harbour the longest, so we were it. We went to the signing of the peace in Singapore, which was a big event.

89 Words



Skeleton : All the bones of your body.


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Set free


When the war ended in the Far East there were many Prisoners of War set free. Some had been captured by the Japanese when Singapore fell in 1941. Others were airmen who had been shot down. There were sailors from ships that had been sunk. They were now in Singapore down at the docks. There were these ex- prisoners, all like skeletons. These men had hardly any food for three years. Some had worked on the Burma railway and starved. Now they were free.

84 Words



P.O.W. Prisoner of War.

Not much room in a submarine!


Corn beef : Canned beef.

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Fresh bread


There was a big cruiser; in the harbour. They were baking bread like it was going out of style. The POWs came on board in a swarm. We had dozens down in the submarine. They just wanted to talk. We fed them. There wasn’t much room in the submarine, but we fed them corn beef sandwiches and tea. All we had to give them was these sandwiches, made with this new white bread. It must have been terrible for them. I can’t imagine anything worse for someone who's starving. The bread was straight out of the bakery of the huge cruiser. They loved it.

106 Words



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A kick in the butt


Our top General in the Far East was Mountbatten. He had the peace signed in Singapore. The Japanese had invaded China in 1938. There were many Chinese people in Singapore. For the signing we went off and had this grand parade. Japanese Generals were marched down through the streets. The local Chinese would come out and kick them in the butt. Then they would dash back into the crowd again. Then peace was signed.

75 Words



Eventful : Lots of things going on.

Dieppe : Say it like Dee - epp.


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Could have been worse


We did two patrols from the base in Ceylon. After a patrol there was leave. We had our two patrol leaves on a tea estate before going home. That was the end of the war for me. My war was eventful but nothing like storming Dieppe, marching through the mud to Monte Cassino, or anything like that. Certainly it wasn't like landing on the beaches. It was an interesting war. It gave me endless pleasure.

76 Words



Periscope : Long tube with binoculars and mirrors that reaches up from a submarine to the surface. The submarine crew can see what’s happening by using the periscope.



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Under the ice


I stayed on the submarines until 1962. I finished up running the submarines in Halifax. I took two submarines up under the ice in the Cabot Strait. This was in the Cold War, and it was like our war station. Of course none of the boys had ever seen heavy sea ice. The Canadian Navy had an icebreaker, but that was the only ship that ever went near the ice. Our war station was on the edge of the ice off Greenland. I thought it was about time we saw some ice to know what it was like. Also I wanted the crew to remember not to put the periscope up in the middle of it. We went under, and didn't hit anything. It was quite the experience.

129 Words



GREAT BRITAIN

© Bartholomew Ltd Reproduced by Kind Permission of HarperCollins Publishers


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Skipping shells

Reagh Canning : Upper Musquodoboit

Our tank regiment went to Aldershot. That was the army base in England where it seems all Canadian troops went. We did some training there, and also in a sea-side town in South Wales. That was Burry Port. One of the special things we learned there was to skip shells. You would think that a shell would go off as soon as it hit the ground. Most of the time this is true. We learned to fire special shells that bounced off the ground. Sometimes our target was hidden behind something else. We could skip these shells over to the target. It was a bit like skipping stones on a pond.

112 Words



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Keep the water out Reagh Canning : Upper Musquodoboit

Back in Aldershot we knew something very big was happening. We had been training to fight in our tanks. Now we were shown how to keep the inside dry if we were in deep water. This could only mean that we were getting ready to invade France. We had to stop the sea water getting in when we landed on the beaches. The water had to be kept out of the engine. To do this we fixed up tubes to the engine. Air came down one, and the burnt gas went out of the other. Both tubes were tall so the tank could drive in quite a lot of water. The gun turret was kept dry by a special seal. That’s how we got the tanks ready for the battle on the beaches.

134 Words



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Leave


When we were training at Aldershot we had leave. We went to London, and danced in a hall with mirrors all around. Sometimes I went to York, and even as far as Aberdeen in Scotland. These were a long way away. I would save up leave time. Then I went by train. It took four days to have a leave in Aberdeen. I was able to be there for only a day and a half. All the rest of the time was on the train. Why did I do this? If you ever get to Aberdeen you will know why. It is truly a beautiful city.

107 Words

©2001www.arttoday.com Aberdeen


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It takes all sorts


We had many different types of people in our regiment. Two stick out in my memory. One man thought that the American soldiers were soft and weak. If we met an American in a pub, this man would always pick a fight. He was really a jerk! This same person thought a lot of himself. When our bus got to where we were going on leave he always did the same thing. He got out, spread his arms wide and yelled “Here I am girls, come and get me!” Another person I remember was very helpful. He had a way of saying just the right thing. We camped in tents at Aldershot. When we got soaked in a storm, he cheered everyone up. I can’t remember what he said. I just know it was funny, and right on!

139 Words


EUROPE



Route : The way you go somewhere.

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D-Day


The invasion of France was a very big thing. We had to cross the sea from England to get there. The Germans expected us to take the short route. We surprised them by going a longer way. It was in the early morning of June 6th 1944. We had sailed all night. There were lots and lots of ships and landing craft. The Canadian army landed on a sand beach we had code-named Juno. Our tank regiment had Sherman tanks made by the Americans. They were fast, even if the gun was not very powerful. The Germans had many guns and troops to try to stop us. It was a hard fight. By the end of the day we had fought with our tanks some miles inland to an air-field just outside the town of Caen.

138 Words

Photo courtesy Department of National Defence


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Night pushes


The fight against the Germans went slowly at first. We were held up at Caen. We were held up longer at a place called Falaise. When we broke through at Falaise the pace got quicker. We went forward at night. This was called a “night push”. We took soldiers on the outside of the tanks. Then we went off across the fields. We had maps. We went as fast as we could. We needed the speed. If we hit a ditch, we flew over it at speed. Going slow would have tipped us down into it! After three or four miles we stopped. The soldiers with us then made sure there were no enemy left behind us. We helped them with our tank guns.

125 Words

Photo courtesy Department of National Defence


Shrapnel : Piece of a shell or bomb broken off in the explosion.

Orchard : Fruit trees planted together.


Bogie Wheel : Small wheel that keeps the track of a tank in line.


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Shrapnel Reagh Canning : Upper Musquodoboit

Some time before D Day I had been made a Corporal. When we were doing the night pushes our crew commander was wounded. I was made crew commander, a corporal crew commander! It didn’t last long, and I was wounded too. Our tank had stopped in an orchard. One of the small bogie wheels had come off. We waited for the “rescue tank” to come and get us. I was lying on the top of the tank at the back. My buddy was beside me on his right side. I was on my left. Bang! A shell went off just by the tank. The next thing I knew I was being lowered into the rescue tank. I had been hit by a piece of the shell, shrapnel. I was hit on my left shoulder. That’s the side I had been lying on. How did that happen?

147 Words



Crossroads : Where two roads cross.


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Jack be nimble


We sometimes carried soldiers into battle on the outside of the tank. We were safe from small arms fire inside the tank. They were not. I remember the ting! ting! ting! ting! ting! of machine gun bullets on the tank. Those soldiers got off in a hurry. We, of course, stopped at once. Another time we were stopped at a crossroads. Ahead of us was a ridge. On the ridge was a row of German Tiger tanks. They were much larger than our Sherman tanks. Their guns could shoot for over a mile. Ours were good at four to five hundred yards. How did we beat them? Our tanks were light and fast. Our turrets turned with a motor. The Tiger tank turret was turned by hand. This helped us. We were more nimble. We didn’t win every fight. Many tanks and crews were lost.

146 Words



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Trail rides


The war took us deep into Germany. We were near the city of Essen. We were held up there for some time. We came across an area where miles of trees had been planted. It was not hurt by the war. Close by there was a huge farm. It was bigger than any I had seen in Nova Scotia, or in England. The people there had horses. We were told not to talk to any of the German people. We did, and traded trail rides in the woods for candy and cigarettes!

93 Words



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A grim find


Germany was badly bombed and shelled. The city of Essen was where many of the heavy weapons had been made. The Krupp factories were just a mile from the peace of the horse farm. It was a shock to us. There was little left of them. What we did find made us shudder. We found a test range for guns. The targets were still there. Sheets of steel four, six and even eight inches thick. All had holes blown in them! What kind of a gun could do that? The armour on our tanks was only two inches thick. We were very glad those guns had not been used on us.

112 Words



EGYPT


Appendix : Small part of your gut that has to be taken out if it goes bad.

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Trouble spot Gwen Wallace : East Chezzetcook

I joined the army in 1950. I was only in for four years. I was to have gone to Germany in 1952, but my appendix went bad, so I could not go. I only had six or eight months left to do in the army so I was sent to Egypt. I went to Egypt in 1953. We were there on service. The Suez Canal was part of the British Commonwealth, but the Egyptians wanted it back. There was a lot of trouble. I could have gotten out of going. I wanted to go because I had never been out of England.

103 Words



Cabin : What rooms on a ship are called.

Magnify : Make larger.


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First Class

Gwen Wallace : East Chezzetcook

We went to Egypt by boat, it took three or four days, and we stopped in Malta. There wasn't a war so we didn't have to sail in a convoy. It was just the one ship that sailed over. It was the biggest ship I had seen. There were lots of people on the ship. The girls travelled first class in the officers’ quarters. We had nice cabins. We used to sit up on the deck, and the guys would light cigarettes with magnifying glasses. One fellow even cooked an egg with a magnifying glass.

96 Words



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Don't look down!


I was very sea sick. A couple of the other girls that were in my cabin got really sea sick also. Them getting sick made me even more sick. I was alright if I sat out on the deck and looked up at the sky. I had my piece of toast and paper bag in my hand. As soon as I looked down it was trouble. I used to walk around on the deck holding my piece of toast. The military police that worked on the ship walked with me.

90 Words



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Dangerous Romance


Egypt was dangerous at that time. We had to go out in fours, and the men had to carry rifles. That is where I met my husband. He was from England also, and he lived about 20 miles from me. I only knew him for seven days when we got engaged. I was twenty-two. He went back home to England soon after that, in July. I did not return home until October.

72 Words





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Afternoons off Gwen Wallace : East Chezzetcook

Where we were in Egypt was all sand and barbed wire. It was hot and smelly. You felt as though you wanted to push the air away. But you couldn’t. We used to start work very early in the morning, and work until 12 noon. Then we would have the rest of the day off. My job in the army was clerical. I would type, and look up records on people. I would bring people’s papers up to date. At the end of the work day we would take off, and go to the beach. It was a women only beach, but the guys used to get on the beach as well.

112 Words



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Eat it before it melts!


In Egypt, we had a lot of fun. There were only about eight hundred girls, and eight thousand men. So there was always dances put on by the men’s units. They would send trucks to pick up the girls, and return them home at the end of the night. We also went swimming or lay on the beach. It was so hot, and there were bugs. You went to bed with netting around your bed. If you had a chocolate bar it would melt before you could finish it.

88 Words



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Tearful farewell Gwen Wallace : East Chezzetcook

I enjoyed my time in Egypt very much. In fact when it came time to come home, my friend and I both cried. We were coming home on the same day, and we sat on the truck together to go to the airport in tears. We were both wondering if we should sign on for another year. We thought we might go home then sign on again and go back. We did not in the end. That was in 1954.

80 Words


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• Reader 1 • Reader 2 • Reader 3 • Reader 5 • Reader 6 • Reader 7 • Reader 8

far away but close to home - copianen.copian.ca/library/learning/faraway/stories/s4/s4.pdf · 2015....

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