61 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND www.mbnwo.ca Nine p.m. May 16, found them aboard H.M.S. Samaria en route to “somewhere where it’s hot.” ... Picked up their convoy of over 30 ships at Gourrouck. An impressive sight. One aircraft carrier, destroyers, a Battle Ship, supply ships and several troop ships. Ran into a bad storm after five days at sea. On May 22 it was announced that a German U boat had been destroyed yesterday by one of their Destroyers. It hoisted a black flag. On May 24, in the Mediterranean Sea, three bombs from an enemy aircraft barely missed their aircraft carrier. Their Spitfires took chase. Sailing through the Straits of Gibraltar required everyone to be absolutely quiet and no smoking. Morocco was in allied hands but Spain was neutral - a haven for enemy submarines and spies. On May 27, at 9 a.m., they docked in the Algerian port of Algiers. After a six-mile march to awaiting trains carrying what seemed like a ton of gear, they arrived at Boufarik and were billeted in a French winery. Within minutes after they disembarked from the Sumaria, Algiers was subjected to a heavy German air raid. They went into the village in gangs for protection. Many Arabs were hostile. One of their boys got knifed, also one Yankee. Two out cold. Too much new vino! They now had to get used to French francs! He got his education through a visit to a brothel – for educational purposes only! Legalized in this country. Filthy, disgraceful and inhuman. Thirty-five bombs were dropped on Algiers on June 5. The heat in Algeria was extreme, cool at night, thankfully. At 2:15 a.m. on June 15, they moved out to their airfield in Tunisia by train- boxcars - eight horses or 30 men. Stopped at a siding. Thousands of German and Italian prisoners were on a train bound for P.O.W. camps. He remembered he traded matches to a German Luftwaffe Officer for a badge ripped off his uniform. It looked like the whole German and Italian armies were now P.O.W.’s (that actually was the case, as far as the desert war was concerned). Upon their arrival at a former German Army camp they were dead tired. He felt half cooked. They had passed through the battlefields - wrecked tanks, trucks, bomb and shell holes and one dead white horse, still with saddle on his back. They set up camp near Kairouan about 60 km. from the Mediterranean Sea. Nothing but sand and wide open spaces. (The docks at Tunis were heaps of rubble bombed by the allies to prevent the Germans and Italians from escaping). The YMCA boys showed films in the open air. Thomas’ squadron, 420 Squadron, the 424 and the 425, constituted #331 RCAF Wing. Their mission in Africa was to bomb Sicily and prepare Sicily for an allied invasion and hence advance to the toe of Italy. Time passed. The mail finally caught up to them. A real morale booster. Ops. began. Temperature 140 degrees F. Almost 160 degrees inside their “Wimpys” (two engined Wellingtons). Dysentery was common as was hepatitis. He had his share of both, as well as a smattering of Malaria and blood poisoning. His arm was almost the size of his leg. On July 9, waves of bombers filled the sky bound for Sicily. A big allied invasion about to begin. Next day it happened. At 3:00 a.m. Canadian, American and British troops successfully invaded Sicily, preceded by a ferocious aerial bombardment. The war was now about to take a turn for the better with the allies soon to be in, Sicily and allied hands paving the way to Italy and other enemy occupied territories. A rumor developed that they were to leave for India, - Burma or Madagascar in one month’s time - even England or Canada! They waited and sweated it out. On time off they swam in the Mediterranean, got sick on Arab food, tried to sleep in daytime under mosquito netting and generally succeeded in keeping their aircraft serviceable. One night while Thomas was on guard duty a “kite” in one of their squadrons blew up. The sky was all red. On July 27, Mussolini and his Fascist party of Italy, “resigned”. Mussolini was murdered shortly afterwards by his own people. Britain and the United States sent a 48-hour ultimatum to Italy - surrender or else! He traded his winter underwear to an Arab for 87 chicken eggs. (Most weren’t rotten). Had a real omelet feast! DELGATY, Thomas Neil (continued) (Continued)
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM0NTk1OA==