In Hot Water (1 of 3)

Heroes Remember

In Hot Water (1 of 3)

Transcript

Another event that occurred related to, I think it was August the 1st, and bear in mind we were working for the British Army. The Canadian, the Royal Air Force wings worked for the Canadian Army. Same area, Canadian Armies were on Caen over to the east. But this had been decided well in advance of D-Day. So we worked for the British Army. So I'm sent out to do a reconnaissance out of B8. It was almost, it's very late in the afternoon and I go down past a place called Mont Pinson south of the beach head quite a distance. And on the way back it's dusk, as I'm coming along at about 2000 feet or so I see straight ahead of me, as I'm travelling north back to the beach head and my airfield, I see gun fire. I come up to the source of the gun fire and here are tanks going up this peculiar back dirt road. I look at the tanks, they're Tiger tanks in my recognition and they're firing away. So I look at the map and they're inside what we call the bomb line. The intelligence people draw on our maps a line called the bomb line. Anything in that area to the south of the bomb line you could report on the radio. Anything north of the bomb line, in that area was regarded to be ours, Canadian or British and you could not report it on the radio because the Germans listened, monitored everything we were doing. They knew, they knew us by voice and... So I could not report these, these tanks. But I thought, "Well, I know they're Tigers, and there might be some Typhoons in the area." So I call up my friend group control centre and reported the location of these tanks, even though they were north of the bomb line.

Description

Mr. Rohmer tells a story of spotting Tiger Tanks in an unexpected area in Normandy, and how his reporting of it got him in hot water.

Richard Heath Rohmer

Major General Rohmer was born in Hamilton, Ontario on January 24, 1924. He enlisted with the Royal Canadian Air Force on his eighteenth birthday. He had received some training in Canada before being shipped overseas to Bournemouth for further training on both Spitfires and Mustangs. He chose to fly a Mustang and was finally able to get into operations in the Fall of 1944.

General Rohmer provided reconnaissance for D-Day, the Falaise Gap and the Liberation of the Netherlands.

After the war, General Rohmer instructed Spitfire pilots on how to attack in the air at Gunnery Instructor School and later went back to college in Ontario, Canada. After graduating from college he went on to practice law. General Rohmer has received several awards throughout his illustrious career including the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Canada Defence Medal and is an Officer of the Order of Canada just to name a few. General Rohmer is also a best selling author.

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