The Longest Day

Heroes Remember

The Longest Day

Transcript

And we got back into Southampton at about 9:30 in the evening and in our previous visits to Southampton of course it had always been extremely busy of shipping and it was full of landing craft and everything else and it was always, we, when we came in that night it was absolutely silent and particularly after the noisy day we'd had, it was really noticeable how quiet it was and there wasn't a thing moving and there was one berth that was open which presumably had been created for ourselves and there was about thirty ambulances lined up on the jetty for our casualties. And, again, everything was so organized and planned and everything went so well that day you'd almost think in advance that they'd know that we were arriving. So I happened to be detailed off as one of the stretcher bearers to take our casualties ashore and there was a whole bunch of American troops in the shed on the jetty there and I can remember one chap coming up to me and asking me, he said, "Well, what's it like over there?" and of course here we were carrying off these casualties and I didn't know really what to say to the guy and all I could think of to say was, " It's noisy!". So with that he walked away, but I'm sure he wasn't looking forward to going over the next day perhaps. But in any event, we, as soon as we'd off loaded our casualties, then we went back to our regular anchorage in the Solent. And we were, all of us were able to catch up on some of our sleep, and it was a long day and of course it was called the longest day, but it was absolutely remarkable that in one day we had been over there and back and done it safely. So that was a pretty marvellous feeling and we were all able to relax and catch up on our sleep.

Description

Mr. Gorsline talks about their return to Southampton with casualties.

John Henry Gorsline

Mr. Gorsline was born on November 12, 1924 in Collingwood, Ontario. He joined the Navy in November of 1942 on his 18th birthday. Mr. Gorsline served aboard the HMCS Prince David as a radar operator and returned to civilian life in September 1945.

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