Description
Mr. Dowie describes guarding a tank for three days in No Man's Land.
Vernon Dowie
Mr. Dowie was born in Montreal on August 9, 1920. His father was from Jamaica and was a medical doctor who trained in Cambridge, England. His father did not have a medical licence in Canada and thus worked at a variety of jobs including painting and as a railway porter. Mr. Dowie joined the Three Rivers Regiment in August 1940 and was part of the 1st Canadian Armoured Brigade. He trained in England and served in Italy, Sicily, and Holland. He is still involved with the Three Rivers Regiment.
Transcript
The next place we were taken, the 5th Div. came up to take Pescara and we went in to support the Cape Breton Highlanders. As we moved up through the PPCLI line, we hit a mine and lost our, what would it be, our left track, the bogey on the left side was blown off. Anyway, the whole thing worked out to that we were left stranded about a quarter of a mile ahead of the holding line of the PPCLI and we spent three days in No Man's Land, guarding our tank.
Interviewer: Were you under direct observation of the enemy at that time?
Mr. Dowie: More or less.
Interviewer: Did they at any time bring down artillery or even mortar fire on you?
Mr. Dowie: Yes, and they had also tried to send a patrol in to destroy the tank, but we were able to fight them off.