Manoeuvring Aqua Jeeps

Heroes Remember

Manoeuvring Aqua Jeeps

Transcript

I don’t know, there’s so many things happened. There was one thing that the boys and I were sent on that we had absolutely no reason why we should have been sent on it. Burns come down, I guess I was down there. He’d got something on me, anyway, and he was giving me a hard time. And then, all of a sudden, he says, “By the way,” he says, “I’ve got something for you and your boys to do.” And he says, “I’m sending you on a trip.” And what we didn’t, what we were, this one guy and I, we were preparing to play ball with the Royal Canadian Regiment ball team. And anyway, we were quite disgusted, that was coming up in about three days and he said, “Have your men down at eight o’clock, 0800 hours, down at the truck depot and make sure you have a blanket.” So we were all prepared. Went down there and there was another young lieutenant with us, sent down there, and we took off. We thought we were going to the Mediterranean, but instead of that, we went to the Adriatic clear across Italy. We weren’t very far from Naples at that time. We got down there and what we had to do was get on jeeps, aqua jeeps, and go out in the Adriatic with these Americans, of course. Then we got that finished, but they were real nice out in the harbour. Once we got out of the harbour and in the waves, they were just terrible things to ride. So anyway, we got back and had supper and an American officer come along and talking to our officer. And then they come over and they said, “How’d you like to go on that other thing?” It had a, on the one side was 0023. The other side was monstrosity. It was about a six by six. That’s a huge truck, cab over engine, quite a big box on it. A big propeller on the back and pontoons on the front and the sides.

Description

Mr. Kocher describes his time in the Adriatic patrolling the waters in an aqua jeep with no idea how to control one.

Lyle Kocher

Mr. Kocher was born in Clive, Alberta on June 2, 1918. He was the youngest in his family with three brothers and two sisters. After six years of school he decided to quit and help his father with farming. As a young boy, Mr. Kocher joined the Royal Fusiliers of Edmonton Reserves. He enlisted in Edmonton and then went to Calgary for basic training. Mr. Kocher spent much of his army life in Italy and Africa. After returning home he wrote a book about being a Canadian soldier during the Second World War. In it, he shares his story of lost innocence and self- discovery.

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