The Sounds of Fear

Heroes Remember

The Sounds of Fear

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Transcript

I remember one time in Southern France we were all going up this mountain and when we got there it would be on the, I think it would be on the border of the Swiss Alps too. But anyway on the way up there was a big bomb exploded not too far from me but the fella in front of me fell right in front of me wouldn't be as far as from here to that fella. Cut him right in two, we couldn't stop, you had to keep on going. The medics got him but it wouldn't have done us any good to stop anyway because he was, that was it, bang, he was out. A fellow from Alberta by the name of Ganet, a hell of a nice lad too. It could have been him, it could have been me we were just walking up the mountain, bang he got it. I'll tell you if you can hear a shell coming it's good, it's the ones that you don't hear that get you. You know if you hear it you are in pretty good shape but if you can't hear it bang, it's out. Interviewer: How would you describe the sound of a shell? What noise do they make? Oh terrible, I can't describe it, terrible. 88's, Moaning Minnies we called them. That would be oh probably a dozen mortars going off again - all going around in a circle so every time they go around bang, bang, bang, bang. And they just, oh they were dreadful sounds. You didn't know where they were going to land. The German 88's they were machine or uh tank gun, self propelled gun, they were bad. But we had the smallest gun there, the Sherman Tank, it was only a 76. I don't know how we won. We had the smallest guns there, that's right. They had 88's, first they had 75's on the tanks and then they put 76. But it's good. Good gunners, made every shot count, I guess. Interviewer: Were there times that you were afraid? Afraid all the time my dear woman. Sure, anybody who says that they weren't they're not telling you the truth. Probably you're out on leave or something or a different country you might of been you weren't afraid. But then you were always afraid, yeah you were afraid most of the time, you know what I mean? Sometimes scared, too. You had to be, you know, there was no way of getting out of it. You get in some bad situations sometimes. Interviewer: What were some of the situations you found yourself in? Well sometimes you'd go, go out on the, probably on the patrol and you'd probably get lost. But not for long, you find your way back. I got lost one night for a little while but I found my way back, got onto the trail again. But that was scary, you know. Interviewer: How many were with you? Oh there was a whole troop of us, probably a couple of platoons probably about twenty or twenty-five men. But then when you get lost there would be nobody with you, eh. Interviewer: And what kind of terrain would you be going over there maybe when you would be lost? Through the woods. Interviewer: Through the woods. Swamp, woods, swamp, everything. Mountains, hills, hollows you name it. Interviewer: And you couldn't yell and say, "Where are you?" Oh no. I guess not. Interviewer: I guess not. No, you had to whisper, whisper to send the message up or send the message back. And we'd whisper to one another. Touch them on the shoulder, they would only be a little ways ahead of you, you know, be all in single file going through the woods. But some of those patrols were scary and a lot of them weren't too bad. We always made it back though but sometimes I wonder how we ever did.

Description

Mr. Durant describes the fear that haunted all soldiers and wonders how they ever survived.

Lawrence Durant

Mr. Durant was born in Saint John, New Brunswick but moved to Prince Edward Island as a child and grew up in the Summerside area. His father was a peddler. He joined the army in May, 1943 and was sent to the Italian front where he saw action for the first time on the Anzio Beachhead. He was part of the forces that went on to Rome and forced its fall from German hands. He was also briefly part of the Devil's Brigade. With the West Nova Scotia Regiment, Mr. Durant saw action in France, Belgium and Holland where he took part in the fall of Apeldoorn. He briefly left the service after coming home, but enlisted again in 1950 and took part in three peacekeeping missions to Germany, Egypt and Korea. He was discharged in 1960 from the military and made his home in Charlottetown, PEI.

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