Close to Combat but Undeterred

Heroes Remember

Close to Combat but Undeterred

Transcript

We went into Algiers and that's as far as the troop ship would go. Couldn't get into the wharf because the harbour was full of sunken ships, there were spars sticking up everywhere. The regiment was transferred to a destroyer and went a couple, a couple of hundred kilometres down to the coast to a place called Bone, b-o-n-e, and that's where we went into action. Interviewer: At that point did, were you guys getting afraid? What were you starting to feel? No. No... there's so many of you doing the same thing, togetherness, that you don't get afraid. We had one or two fellows, that I remember that were nervous, obviously. First thing they'd do was dig a slit trench as deep as they could get it. That's the first thing they did once we stopped, you know. Where as, I wouldn't dig a slit trench, you know, it was a lot of work and hot and no I wasn't afraid, for some reason. Well I suppose there was a little bit of fear all the time of the likelihood of being killed any minute, it happened. Gun positions, direct hits, moving at night, land mines. You always moved at night, you never moved during the day because you'd be seen. Move at night. Over landmines, taking over gun positions, cause the guns had to be 100 metres, 100 metres or 100 yards apart, you see. And the quad, that's the vehicle that pulled the limber, which is the ammunition box and the gun, run over a mine, one or two fellas killed, you know. Now this didn't happen every night either but there was always the likelihood of an accident. Yeah, I lost a couple of good buddies, things like that. It was always in your mind but you couldn't be thinking about that all the time, you know you had your work to do.

Description

Mr. Candow describes the state of the harbor when his regiment arrived in Algiers, and explains how the men maintained their composure in the face of danger.

Gordon Henry Candow

Mr Candow was born December 15, 1920, and is the oldest of nine children. Joining in with the lads he was working with when war broke out, he signed into the navy but was quickly transferred to artillery. In May 1940, Mr. Candow sailed overseas as a part of the 57th Heavy Regiment, and was stationed to Norfolk, Great Britain, performing costal defence for a year and a half. After being shipped to Southern England the 57th was soon incorporated into the 166th Newfoundland Field Artillery Regiment. In January 1943, the regiment was shipped to North Africa. They remained in action until the end of the North African campaign, when they were shipped to Italy where the unit saw action in Fogia, Cassino, Ortona, and Boulogne. When the war ended, he returned to Southern England for a short period and then returned home to Newfoundland.

Meta Data