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Malta Emptied for Invasion of Sicily

Heroes Remember

Malta Emptied for Invasion of Sicily

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Transcript
That was something else to behold. We were living in Malta, this place called Sliema and across the little bay was, Valletta, the capital of Malta. You could walk across that mile of water and not get your feet wet, on all the ships they had in there. And they had aircraft carriers stuck in little corners and different bays and all this stuff. We were flying the night before and I remember sitting in the tail and whatever they were doing to this little island Pantelleria you could, I could look at my watch and every minute there was an explosion. They were shelling it with navy ships. The next morning, woke us up about six o'clock, "Get up on the roof, you gotta see this!" And it was a small D-Day, I've never seen so many ships moving at once. And when you went down to the waterfront there was nothing there, they were all gone. That's when they invaded Sicily. They started the night before and what we saw was them going in, in the morning.
Description

Mr. Doiron recalls the amazement he felt as an entire harbour was emptied of its ships in anticpation of the Invasion of Sicily.

Leonard Doiron

Mr. Doiron was born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island on January 21st 1923. His father worked in wholesale and retail until he was injured and opened his own shoe repair shop. Mr. Doiron joined the Air Force on February 15th 1941 where he began his training in Chatham, New Brunswick. In June 1941 he was sent to Initial Training School in Victoriaville, Québec. Mr. Doiron was part of the top 10 aspiring pilots and was picked to become one. He was later sent back to Chatham where he was washed out for inconsistent flying. The RAFFC (Royal Air Force Ferry Command) noticed his Morse code abilities and had him transferred to Dorval, Québec. He was then stationed in Bournemouth, England. He did his Operational Training in Northern Ireland where he was assigned to a Wellington air plane crew. He flew many missions over the Gulf of Toranto (Italy) - about 300 hours of Operational Flying Time and was promoted to Warrant Officer Class 1. He then went to Cairo, Egypt and to Palestine for a short time before being sent back home on the Louis Pasteur. Mr. Doiron retired from the service in the 1970's.

Meta Data
Medium:
Video
Owner:
Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:
01:37
Person Interviewed:
Leonard Doiron
War, Conflict or Mission:
Second World War
Location/Theatre:
Europe
Branch:
Air Force
Units/Ship:
Royal Air Force Ferry Command (RAFFC)
Rank:
Sergeant
Occupation:
Radio Operator

Copyright / Permission to Reproduce

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