143 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND www.mbnwo.ca PALMER, William WWII William enlisted in the Canadian Army, Active, in Winnipeg, Manitoba on May 26, 1941 at the No. 10 District Depot (CH) Royal Canadian Engineers. He took his basic training at Fort William, Ontario from June 28, 1941 until August 26, 1941. He arrived at the RCE training depot at Dundurn, Saskatchewan on August 28, 1941. He left Dundurn on November 8, 1941 to go overseas and arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia around November 12. They boarded the troop ship, The Duchess of Atholl at about 11am and got settled in one of the lower decks and had a meal. At about 8pm that evening, their three sections of the RCE were called to disembark, going down on the troop train two or three of the men had come down with mumps and scarlet fever and because there was no medical officer on the train they went into quarantine. They put them in quarters at the MM Depot in Halifax and then took them on trucks out to Debert, Nova Scotia where they remained until the end of January 1942. They left Debert to go back to board another troop ship to go overseas and it turned out this ship was not seaworthy so in the middle of February they were taken back to Valcartier, Quebec. Finally, at the end of February they took the train to Halifax and boarded a troop ship on February 28 and embarked for Garriock, Scotland. The ship arrived on March 7, 1942 and the men trained around the south of England until the end of June 1942. They were then sent out to the field and joined up with the 4th Canadian Field Park Squadron RCE of the 5th Canadian Armoured Division and did a lot of training with the Bailey Bridge. William ended up as a driver, hauling the bridge over ditches and small bodies of water. They went to different ports on Division Exercises until July 1943, then went along the Thames River and did pontoon bridging and ended up in East Anglia, near Norfolk on the East Coast. They were there until the end of September and came back down to the south near Eastbourne. They left on October 20 by train to Liverpool then to Italy arriving in Naples on November 8. They were attacked by enemy aircraft near dusk on November 6. They had a large convoy as they had the 5th Division and all of the 1st Canadian Corps. They hit the ship that had the 8th Canadian General Hospital Equipment and all the nursing sisters and doctors and staff, as well as the headquarters of the 1st Canadian Corps and all the records. But the ship did not go down until the next evening after they towed it to the shore of North Africa, so there was no loss of life. After they disembarked at Naples they marched for a few miles and went into some old buildings that were deserted. They stayed for a couple of weeks. They got their equipment and moved over to the East Coast. They got more stores and supplies and hauled them up from the South Coast at Bari and Brindise. The Engineers were attached to a New Zealand Division to help put the roads and bridges in shape. They were with them until after the New Year, after the 1st Canadian Division captured Ortona on December 24 and 25. They went back to their own division and got organized for the drive up the East Coast. They went over to the north of Naples for a push in May, up through the Hitler Line and continued on until things were rounded up in March 1945. Then they crossed the Mediterranean Sea to the South of France and on up to Belgium and Holland. They left there at the end of July and went back to England to wait until October 16 to sail home, arriving in Halifax on October 21, 1945. William received his discharge on March 29, 1945 with the rank of Sapper, Regimental number H36496. He served in Canada, the United Kingdom, the Central Mediterranean Area and Continental Europe and resided in Davidson, Saskatchewan.
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