Near Miss

Interviewer: What was a close miss? Well, myself and Don, Don Gillan, a buddy of mine, he was from here. We were both signallers and the line to the observation post had been cut and we went out and found what had happened. Shell fire. And I got this one end of the wire, we had telephone, see, and he went across the opening and got the other, found the other wire and we were just about walking towards each other wondering how much wire we'd need to fill in. Bang, bang, bang. Three shells down. Oh, I dove down to a bunch of, bunch of, I dunno what it was thorny, something. And Gillan did the same thing and when we stood up, you know, we couldn't see, it was all dust. And I said I bet ya Gillan got it, he's got it, he's gone. And he was on the other side doing the same thing, thinking that I was killed. Yeah... So we were glad to see each other.

Mr. Candow recalls an occasion when he and a fellow signaller came under fire while repairing a communications line.

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.