Storming Juno Page #5

So I-it was

exciting for us.

It was sort of, it felt

it was a duty to do.

That was ah,

and

there's so many men,

out of work,

they had nothing and

what else could they do

if the government isn't going

to do anything for you?

Join up.

I Took my first

opportunity to go and join.

I have a brother who

was killed, in Italy.

I was mad,

swore I'd get me a,

kill me a German.

We're all there for

the same reason.

We had to be.

In this thing together, and

the quicker we get out of it,

the better you know?

It was really quiet,

there was nothing said,

just one of those

things, if you,

you had this job to do and

you just kept it to yourself.

Well I think a lot of thinking

and a lot of praying.

oh, we had to

sleep some but we -

you didn't sleep that much

with that on your mind

knowing the -

what might happen,

what could happen.

The night before,

we got instructions to

write our last letter home.

I was married,

young, just,

just just married.

Very young and very -

and who do you

send the letter to,

your mom and dad?

Or your wife?

I addressed it to all of them.

That's a hell of a

letter to have to write.

That channel, I don't

know if you know it,

but it can be rough

at the best of times.

But it was very rough.

Horrible rough.

Everybody including myself

was sea-sick right now.

The big ah...

ships

the destroyers and

the ah, battleships,

opened up a tremendous

crescendo that -

that's why I'm wearing two

hearing aids now.

[explosion]

We had to crawl down,

I don't know how many,

maybe twenty or thirty feet,

on these scramble nets,

and you had to be

very careful because

the water was so rough

that when the waves come

it would lift the landing

craft a way up and,

and then let it down and

you had to make sure that

you didn't get

squashed between the

landing craft and the ship.

Right behind me,

the Battleship Rodney sat,

and every time

the gun was fired,

the recoil eh?

And every time

you came forward,

he sent a twenty foot wave.

That little barge

I was on just went

twenty feet up and

twenty feet down.

I'll never forget it.

And I think maybe that's

why I was so damn sick,

I didn't give a damn if I

made it to France or not.

We had bottles

of rum...

and it was passed

along both sides,

and ah, everybody

took a swig you know,

and when that

one went empty,

another one came on.

We're, I don't

wanna use this word,

but we were more

than half pissed

when we hit the beaches.

There was lots of a fellas,

that had trained for two years

and never touched the beach.

They were dead before they

ever touched the beach.

I watched when they hit a mine,

and I just happened to be

looking that way and

all of a sudden

everything just big,

big explosion.

They just went blank.

Black.

And two, you could

see two bodies

goin up in the air.

There was the ah,

tanks.

I don't know if you ever

saw them and they were,

they floated and they and

they had curtained on them,

and they floated in so far.

Amazing.

Floating them with

a forty ton tank,

with a couple a,

three or four air bubble

and coupla struts

and you know,

not a good move.

The whole thing got hit

with a big wave or something

and down it would go.

Next went down,

the same thing.

Too much heavy water.

Way too rough.

Wiped out right there.

Twenty-five men,

five tanks.

Off of that tank

carrier that we were on,

there was five didn't

make it and our tank did.

You're scared stiff,

and you can't tell

it to anybody.

Everybody feels like you do.

You, that's a-it's a

helluva situation really.

You know?

You're scared stiff.

And you just wondered,

if, is,

is this it?

That moment,

is, is when you

realize then,

you realize then

it was for real.

I've always said,

you either,

grew up that day,

or you didn't grow up at all.

You were trained,

just as soon as

that door opened,

you jumped out into the water,

and you headed for the beach

just as quick as

you could get there.

In case they had their

guns aimed at you well,

they could just kill

all you before you,

as you were coming out.

The first fellow,

he got up and...

He got hit, and he fell

off into the water.

And the second guy he,

he got hit in the arm

and he laid on

the gangplank there,

and then it was my turn.

I was the third guy out.

Well they had to holler

at me a couple of times,

cause I was,

I was petrified,

I couldn't move you know?

When you get up to

your chest pretty well,

and you get a big wave and

you it pushes you forward,

and then when it back,

it pulls you back again.

It was really

hard to get ahead to

get onto the beach.

I waded past a couple of

bodies already floating.

I hit the ground running,

I could see the

sand kicking up

where the bullets

were hitting them.

And I just kept

running like hell.

I was too stupid

to be scared.

If you get hit well then,

that's the time

to start screaming.

These guys were peppering us,

they had concrete

pillboxes all over.

They had their...

Smizer and T42,

fast, a fast fast

belt fed gun.

Just a 'sbrrrmpf',

like that.

'sbrrrmpf' they were fast.

[gun fire]

At the time where you get hit,

it's more of a shock,

it doesn't hurt,

but I couldn't stand up,

I couldn't run,

I couldn't walk, I,

the only way I could

maneuver is crawl.

Or wait till the tide

pushed me up a little.

Cause the tide was

coming in all the time.

I was scared.

I tell ya,

I was really really scared.

But you had to go forward.

I bet, bet there's

eight or ten people

layin there face

down in the water.

Regina Rifle boys.

Shot right on the beach,

ya?

You can't stop and

pick those guys up.

It wasn't pretty.

Never forget it.

Yeah.

I reached the ah,

sea-wall,

I could

see everything unfolding

like a giant landscape,

in front of me there.

I could see guys

running around.

Guys screaming,

guys crying.

One man was waving a bible

and screaming for his mother.

I seen like this tank,

what they call a flail tank,

big chains in front of it,

turning and they're

blowing up the mines

as they

go up the beach.

So I followed him up

the beach, went on.

When we got tracks on France,

we just drove

maybe a couple of

tank-lengths out

of the water,

all of a sudden

I hear this, ping,

like a sniper's shot,

from...

and we looked around,

we saw this church steeple,

that's where he's at.

The order was,

I'm still here,

"Gunner, driver's

left, steady on.

Church Steeple.

You're on,

got it.

Fire,

when ready."

We took care of him and um

from then it was go forward.

Our section would have to

clean out this one pillbox,

that was our,

particular job.

We didn't want to be

together because

of a shell hit,

we'd, we'd all

get killed so we,

had to kind of

space ourselves out.

You just kept going till

you hit that first line.

[gun fire]

We threw in a hand

grenade first,

and just as soon as that

explodes you rushed in

the back door and then

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