Fall Of Rome and D-Day

Heroes Remember

Fall Of Rome and D-Day

Transcript

Well we didn't get into Rome. Interviewer: Why not? Because Americans took it. That's the way politics were working. Interviewer: So it was politics that kept the Canadians... Oh I wouldn't say politics but the Americans had a show, we didn't. We were right on the outskirts of Rome, we were so far in the street cars, they drove the street cars out and they left them there. And then the street car, but we could see Rome but we never got in. That's it, halt. And then the big parade, see Rome wasn't bombed, actually no, it was a free open city, same as Paris and all those cities. But anyway in Rome the big parade down in the Champs Elysees, or down the Rome was American jeeps, and American tanks, and American guys. But our guys didn't Poor even the old British Montgomery never even got a chance to show off his strengths. Interviewer: The very next day Mr. Gorie, the D-day occurred June 6th... Yeah, we were the D-Day Dodgers. Interviewer: That's right and then from then on the attention was was in North West Europe... Oh yeah they never heard of us, they were saying you know, there were nothing in the papers about us home. Interviewer: How did the men react to that? Well we never knew, I never knew there was nothing in the papers. Well I guess there was something in the papers there had to be something, but, I don't know. We never knew. Interviewer: Do you recall hearing what Lady Astor said about you men and the Italian Campaign, calling you the D-day Dodgers? (D-Day Dodgers, yeah.) What effect did that have on you men? Didn't, I don't think any effect, Interviewer: Just ignored it? Yeah. What's the difference? Didn't have any effect on me anyways it wasn't going to get you any place. Interviewer: After the D-Day landing in Normandy, did that have any effect on the type of fighting that was going on in Italy? Yes I think it did, the Germans sent a lot of their troops up to France. And then they got ready to send us up, in the 5th, well all the Canadians, every Canadian. Interviewer: After the fall campaign, the troops had moved north, the idea was that if they could cross the Po River it's my understanding that the tanks would then be able to run freely in the Lombardy Plain but that didn't take place, never did happen. Well, whether the British did it and Italians, I dunno, see the Italian Army all capitulated in that time. We had Italians fighting for us, we had Italians fighting for the Germans, they didn't know who they were fighting.

Description

Mr. Gorie speaks of the fall of Rome on June 5, 1944, the D-Day landing in France the following day and the less-than-kind nickname, D-Day Dodgers, given to the troops in Italy at the time of the D-Day invasion by Lady Astor.

Norman Gorie

Mr. Norman Gorie was born on April 22, 1923 in Saint John, New Brunswick. His father did not have military service but his uncle served in the First World War. He grew up in New Brunswick with his two sisters and upon graduation from high school, at the age of 17, he began working as a carpenter building a military camp in Sussex, New Brunswick. In February, 1941, Mr. Gorie joined the Canadian Army enlisting in the 8th New Brunswick Hussars. He served with the 5th Armoured Regiment working as a Wireless Operator and attained the rank of sergeant serving in Italy and Northwest Europe and was in Holland when the war ended. He later returned home to New Brunswick.

Meta Data