Change in Operations

Heroes Remember

Change in Operations

Transcript

We were all anxious to go, to go overseas and wondered how come our outfit has to be the 2nd Division, you see we had went to Dieppe and got clobbered and wanted to get back into action again as far as our Division was concerned .Interviewer: During the winter of 1943 - 1944 during that period of time, did you notice that the division was now getting prepared in a different way? Oh yeah, we started training heavy, right heavy and then they started teaching us how to waterproof our vehicles so when we got onto the shore we could drive off in a lot of water so we did all that and just left the parts, left the carburetors out so they could breathe when we were using the truck. But we had to put our exhaust, run them right up high over the top of the cab and stuff like that.

Description

In preparation for the move towards Sicily, Mr. Cromwell speaks about waterproofing their vehicles.

Everett Sylvester Cromwell

Everett Cromwell was born on December 12, 1921 in Weymouth Falls, Digby Co., Nova Scotia. He was the fifth of ten children. At age twelve, he left school to work in the woods because his father, also a forestry worker, had fallen ill. Both of his parents were soon deceased, and the ten children stayed in the family home supporting one another. Mr.Cromwell supported the family by working for a local farmer and then in the local lumberyard. He enlisted in June, 1941 in the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps. After basic training in Halifax, Sherbrooke, and Camp Borden, he sailed aboard the Louis Pasteur to England, arriving on December 23, 1941. Two weeks after the D-day raid, Mr. Cromwell arrived in France with the 2nd Division, Motor Transport. For the duration of the war, his unit was responsible for transporting fuel, food and ammunition to the Front in support of the Allied advance on Germany. After being discharged from the army and returning home, Mr. Cromwell, recently married, reenlisted because it was ‘steady work’. He and his family were to experience institutionalized racism in Halifax, being denied accommodations because of their black heritage. This in contrast to the fact that he felt equal in all respects as a member of the Army. Mr. Cromwell and his wife, Elizabeth, currently reside in Shelburne, Nova Scotia.

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