The Highland Light Infantry (Part 2 of 3)
Heroes Remember
The Highland Light Infantry (Part 2 of 3)
They said, "Go on down and welcome them, you know, as they come
in." Well, they came in, you know, strung out along the roads
maybe half a mile each side, probably a company or several
companies of them. And I tell you, it was, it was sad when they
came in with a piper, you know. And they stopped them at the
intersection, the crossroads, and you think, you know, the guys,
Dick and Gray's over here and the prisoner is looking at them
and, what a mess. I mean, the guys had bandages on and the
still helmet over their bandages and blood and torn uniforms and
mud from ass to tea kettle, rifles wrapped and stuff, you know,
to try and keep them dry, and mortars and mortar bombs and
carrying all this stuff, you know. Everything you'd carry for a
war, you know, PIAT, PIAT tubes, you know, PIAT projector
infantry had a tank and all that stuff, and we felt so sorry for
them and boy you'd think, "Oh God, that looks," and they formed
them up, of course, we used to form up in threes as you know,
three across. They, they made them wait there. "What the hell
are they doing?" I thought. Well, they had the band there.
They had their band, you know, with the pipers, in a brass band,
like, they had brass along with the pipers, which was unusual,
you know, so near to the front.
So, anyway they, they looked so sad and they came in and, and we
thought, "Well, that's interesting." You know, previous to
that, before they arrived, up in the, on the road way in front
of the houses, they, the company trucks had come up, like, the
infantry trucks and they got their back packs, that's with
their, their change of uniform in them and with their
heavy grey coats and all that kind of stuff.
Related Videos
The War Was Coming
Mr. Field talks about knowing the war was coming, and describes reading about it in the newspaper and talking about it.
Awaiting the War
Mr. Field talks about people in high school enlisting, and describes he and his father enlisting in 1943.
Small Port of Dieppe
Mr. Field goes over to the continent after the summer of 1944, and lands at Dieppe.
- Date modified: