Sailing into Action

Heroes Remember

Sailing into Action

Transcript

I guess it was in May ‘43 that we, we were issued, we were told that we were gonna be on the move. Didn’t know where we were going and so on. Finally issued some summer dress and then we were... We, I guess we left Scotland, we left, that’s right, went up to Scotland and then we, cause we went on, we were on an LST, a landing ship tank if you know what that is... And I got out the second day and go to have my rum ration and I gave it to Harry, a guy beside me, I said, “Keep the damn stuff”. I got, I was sick again. The boat was going like this eh. Somebody said we were going to land in Greece and we didn’t know where we were going. Well we were, we knew we were going somewhere in the Mediterranean... When we got to Gibraltar we knew we were going through, we were going to the Med. and we had no idea where we were going. We landed in Algiers and I remember quite a striking sight just before we hit Algiers. It was noon hour, we had an alert. Everybody came up on deck. Submarines were in the vicinity and one of the ships in our convoy was torpedoed. And I remember the people, this is at noon hour, you could see the people jumping, jumping off the, off the ship and... so quite a few, quite a bit of equipment, it wasn’t an LST cause the LST’s were lucky a very shallow draft and torpedos would have to be nearly you know, up nearly level so we were lucky in that respect. But of course they go like this and they go like this, both ways. So we have no idea where we were going. Well we landed and well, we got to Algiers and we had no idea, you know, whether we were going to be there for three or four days. It seems to me, I think they were waiting for the convoy to kind of get together before they went across to Sicily. No none of us knew whether we were going north, east, south or west I don’t think. We were back on the ocean and had no idea. But I know the night before we landed it was rough and I was in, I was on duty up on Oerlikon gun and throwing up right over the side. I was hoping the ship would sink. Have you ever been sea sick? Because some people don’t get sea sick. I was really hoping the boat would sink and I said, “I don’t give a Goddamn what’s on land.” I said, “Get me off this boat.” Anyways sort of cleared up a little bit and in the morning we landed and I pulled the truck off, we pulled a gun behind us in about three feet of water. Our boat was lucky we were able to get right up on the shore. A little activity with some, few German air craft but nothing, little strafings but nothing made much of it.

Description

Mr. Stanway recalls sailing into action from Scotland to Sicily in May of 1943; a journey which included a torpedo attack and rough seas.

Frank Stanway

Mr. Stanway was born in Britain, and relocated to Montreal, Quebec with his family at a young age. Mr. Stanway joined the Non Permanent Active Militia (NPAM) along with friends, 8 months after Canada declared war. Shortly after basic training finished, their unit went active, so they joined the active forces in August 1940. Mr. Stanway shipped out to Scotland in 1941 and was transferred to Italy, along with the rest of the 5th Battery, in May 1943. They remained stationed there until a few months before the end of the war (February 1945) and returned home shortly after the war ended.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 03:20
Person Interviewed:: Frank Stanway
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Europe
Branch:: Army
Units/Ship:: NPAM / 5th Battery / Artillery
Occupation:: Mechanic

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Sailing into Action

Heroes Remember