Tough days

It was quite an introduction because that was our first gun position, very first gun position was, during night you couldn't see what was the, where the stink was coming from, you know, but came daylight it was obvious. They were all over the place and some of them had, had been killed maybe a month before, and never been buried. Yeah, it was an awful, the worst position that we ever occupied really when it comes, now there was no shelling as it turned out, there was no, we didn't fire a round from there, went into action but we never fired. The next position is where we really suffered from bombing, shelling, because we were put in full view of the enemy, in the next position, in an amphitheater, full view, the whole division. We never really were able to... I must put it this way, the lay of the land was such that if we were to be within range of the potential targets during a potential advance, we had to be in full view. It was a great amphitheater, which ended the back of the amphitheater in a cliff, a real cliff up to Carpiquet Aerodrome, to another level. If you went back to Carpiquet Aerodrome you were out of range of supporting anything over the Orne River you see. And somebody decided, well, "too bad old boy" but we are going to have to put you in full view of the enemy. So you'll be, have the range. We, we didn't know why they'd put us, but we, we... we reasoned that somebody was an idiot, we... we looked upon it as idiotic.

Mr. Blackburn talks about how tough it was being in their first gun position, with dead bodies scattered around them, some of which had been there for a month. They are then moved into a very vulnerable position in full view of the enemy.

George Blackburn

George Blackburn was born in Wales, Ontario, on February 3, 1917. His father started out as a steam shovel runner in building the railroads in the United States. George also worked in journalism for a little while. In 1940 after the war had broke out he decided it was time to join the services. He was rejected from the navy and the air force because of his poor eye sight. It was then that he joined RCA. He went through training and it was there that he learned valuable lessons. George was part of the 4th Regiment. He experienced the Battle of Normandy. There he was a gunnery officer. Upon his return to Canada, Mr. Blackburn made Ottawa his home. His list of occupations include newspaper reporter, Director of Information of the Federal Labour Department, and Director of Fair Employment Practices. In addition, he has been a radio producer, an award-winning documentary scriptwriter, an award-winning playwright, published author, and a lyricist and composer. Mr. Blackburn also earned his Military Cross helping to save the Twente Canaal bridgehead in Holland.