Under Fire in Italy

Heroes Remember

Under Fire in Italy

Transcript

It was shortly after that we got bombed by, they said it was a Fokker or something, and it hit one of our trucks, one beside where I was by my truck, and a good friend of mine was seriously wounded, at the ship. They shipped him out to, Ronnie, they shipped him out to Malta. But that was the first, really. So there was some German aircraft coming over at that time. We were just getting ready to and all of a sudden the aircraft was there and of course when they hit the truck all the, our truck had the ammunition down both sides, carries six men, a driver and usually a sergeant, sometimes eight men, and ammunitions on the side of it. You know all the, your 40 mm spare ammunition, and of course that went off. I remember laying down there and the stuff was flying all over. I didn’t get hit but my friend did seriously. And he was in the hospital there and they shipped him over to North Africa and he came back to the Lanark and Renfrew, he was in the infantry for a short time. But that was in Sicily and he’d only been there I think, hard to say whether it was four days or eight days. I’m not sure, but he’d gone and three or four of our fellows...

Description

Mr. Stanway recalls his battery coming under fire in Italy and how his friend incurred an injury during the attack.

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:: 01:44
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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Under Fire in Italy

Heroes Remember