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Finding Safe Shelter on the Beaches of Dieppe

The Dieppe Raid

Finding Safe Shelter on the Beaches of Dieppe

Transcript
Well there was tanks laying all over the place and there was on fire and treads shot off and stuff like that. So anyway, I said to Bradley, I said, “Dump that thing or we're finished”and he said “Okay.” And I said, “You’re on your own” and he said, “Good luck, good luck” and that was it. He smashed the... radio anyway and... he put a grenade in it actually and that was it. Anyway this officer and I, we started to crawl along the beach and they were still firing and everything else and we couldn’t get behind any tank, because God there was... a crew and everybody else was hiding behind tanks and that. And there was a bunch behind us, I don’t know how many men maybe 20, that were crawling behind us and they were going ahead of us, and as they were going by us they were getting shot down, cut down There was a gap in the wall, and the Germans had a machine gun trained on that and when they were firing 20 second bursts, 20 second lapse, 20 seconds and anyways, this marine officer, he caught it and he kept everybody back, and he hollered at ‘em and he said, “Now when that gun quits, as many as you can, run. Get by it.” Finally it was just him and I, and I don’t know how the hell I got by there but, I could hardly move, I could hardly walk. I wasn’t walking, I was crawling, but anyway it seemed to be an eternity had gone by and just as we got over they started firing again and there was nobody else behind us and that, but anyway, we worked our way down and finally a cease fire and that was the end of it. So this officer said, “Well, you’re on your own” and I said, “See ya.” I didn’t even know the man’s name. I often wish I’d got his name and that and we wished each other good luck and then gradually the German soldiers come down. And I was in pretty sad shape there, trying to hold on to this arm and my friend Ted Broadbent come along and he helped me off the beach and... when we got so far, we had to throw our tin hats in a pile and whatnot I didn’t have a rifle, badly busted both my rifles and that. Anyway then we marched up the street and we went to the Dieppe hospital.
Description

Feeling very vulnerable during the Dieppe Raid in the open space of the beach, it was decided to try to take refuge behind one of the nearby disabled tanks.

Donald Gorman

Mr. Gorman was born June 23, 1921. His father was a stationary engineer at one of Windsor’s high schools and was a veteran of both the Boer War and the First World War. Mr. Gorman left school after achieving junior matriculation. He held jobs in a bakery, a fish market and as an apprentice mechanic at Remington-Rand typewriter factory in Windsor. After enlisting on September 16, 1939, he took his basic training in Windsor before being moved to Camp Borden for advanced training in June, 1940. Mr. Gorman went overseas with the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry Regiment and was involved in the Dieppe Raid.

Meta Data
Medium:
Video
Owner:
Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:
03:22
Person Interviewed:
Donald Gorman
War, Conflict or Mission:
Second World War
Location/Theatre:
Europe
Battle/Campaign:
Dieppe
Branch:
Army
Units/Ship:
Essex Scottish Regiment
Rank:
Lance-Corporal
Occupation:
Signalman

Copyright / Permission to Reproduce

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