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Description
In the Second World War as a truck driver in the Canadian Amy, your truck was your office, and home at times. Mr. Pelly describes living conditions in his truck and working as part of a convoy carrying supplies to the front.
Transcription
Conditions at the front was, was . . . well, you had, you had no place. You just had your truck, and that was it. You were assigned to that truck, and you couldn't leave it. If you were shelled or anything, you hid under the motor of the truck, and that was your . . . I slept under the tailgate and in the little old pup tents. Put the pup tent up and dig a hole. Well we had to dig a hole so you get in ground so the shrapnel couldn't get ya, and you come back and it's full of water. You couldn't sleep there that night, so you had to get in the old truck and go to sleep. Yeah, she wasn't good but . . .
Interviewer: Mr. Pelly, when you were doing this supply system to the front, would you operate in convoys of trucks?
Oh yes. Yeah. Always in convoy, yeah. Never alone. Yeah, you were always in a convoy. We had 31 trucks in our outfit, so we counted 29, 30 trucks in the convoy with an officer leading.
Interviewer: How much weight would you be carrying in each vehicle?
Well, we had three tonne motors. So whatever they loaded them with, but we, they had the three tonne motors.
Interviewer: Was there ever any concern of, of ambush by partisans or anything like that in the . . .?
Yes, there was concern 'cause sometimes you was cut off, eh, and they'd come back and tell you that the Germans were up ahead and the bridge is out or . . . so, you just had to make the best of it and wait until they cleared the road for you. Yes, quite a few times we got stuck in the convoys. Had to wait until the road was clear ahead for us.