Lessons Learned

Heroes Remember

Lessons Learned

Transcript

If I had have tried to land with my radio set I would have drowned. There was at least ten feet of water. That’s why I had to stay where I was. And not only that, we had engineers with us that were supposed to blow the seawall for the tanks and they couldn’t land either because of that difference in depth. They would have drowned their explosives. Well, we landed around 4:45. I didn’t get out of there until, the towing didn’t take place til about 1, 1:30 in the afternoon. But I was watching all this before that. The surrender took place at about 11 o’clock or 11:30 and the troops were being marched off by the Germans. As far as I’m concerned, we learned the lesson of having first of all a moveable wharf, that’s what they came up with and they could go in on a beach and have the landings that way and they came up with artillery that was self-propelled and they came up with a lot of other things that they wouldn’t have had if they, in other words, Churchill himself said that if it hadn’t been for the lessons we learned at Dieppe, Normandy would never have happened.

Description

If it hadn’t been for the lessons learned at Dieppe, Normandy may have never happened.

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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