The Attack Begins

Heroes Remember

The Attack Begins

Transcript

I was awakened at 6 o’clock on the 18th of August by my commanding officer and he says, “We’re going on an exercise of movement.” I said, “What, another damn exercise?” And we wandered back and forth until we arrived at Newhaven at about 6 o’clock at night and it was at that point that he said, “Okay men, this is it. We’re gonna go into Dieppe again!” So he says, “Do you remember the code words, do you remember the objectives and so on?” I said, “Yes sir.” And he said, “Go brief your men.” But at this time, instead of being on an assault landing craft I went onto a new craft which I had never trained on before, with tank landing craft with seven, with three Churchill tanks, each one weighed over 70 tons. And we got on there and I had to brief my men and so on. And the flotilla took off. There were about two hundred and something ships and we started. And it was supposed to be a silent landing but instead of paratroopers they had commandos on either flank and the commando on our left flank met up with a knee (sp) boat patrol about 3 o’clock in the morning and all hell broke loose.

Description

A moment most troops were waiting for, Mr. Hart tells of the attack on the beach in Dieppe.

David Hart

Mr. Hart was born in Montreal, Quebec on July 8, 1917. One of seven boys, Mr. Hart joined the army reserves and high school cadets later graduating from college as an accountant. Joining with the Fourth Divisional Signals in 1937, he then joined active service August 1939. Mr. Hart continued on with his service as a signalman with the Royal Canadian Corps Second Divisional Signals taking part in The Dieppe Raid as a sergeant. For his part in this historical event, Mr. Hart received the Military Medal for bravery, awarded to him by His Majesty King George VI at Buckingham Palace. Upon returning to Canada, Mr. Hart continued on with his accounting career. Having great pride for his service, Mr. Hart has returned to Dieppe six times and with this being the 75th Anniversary of the Dieppe Raid, along with his wife and son, he will be joining the Canadian delegation in recognition of this commemorative event. At 100 years of age, Mr. Hart continues to enjoy life with his wife of 99 years of age, still residing in their own home. Mr. Hart continues to promote the importance of the Dieppe Raid so that Canadians will truly understand the sacrifice that was given during this battle. He and his wife now reside in Montreal, Quebec.

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