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Description
Mr McCrindle describes the 35th Traffic Control Company and their duties following the fall of Rome.
David McCrindle
Le père de M. McCrindle a immigré au Canada en 1911 et a servi durant la Première Guerre mondiale au sein du Black Watch de Montréal. Après la guerre, il est resté en Écosse et est retourné au Canada lorsque David était âgé de deux ans. M. David McCrindle a quitté l'école durant la Crise car sa famille n'avait pas les moyens de payer des études. Il a travaillé pour un bijoutier pour 6,50 $ par semaine et, en juin 1940, il s'est joint à la MANP, le soir et la fin de semaine. Le 9 janvier 1941, le jour de son 19e anniversaire, il s'est joint à l'équipe de Woodstock et a reçu son instruction à Woodstock, Ontario. M. McCrindle s'est rendu en Angleterre où il a reçu son instruction de signaleur. Il a participé à la campagne d'Italie et est revenu au Canada après la guerre.
Transcription
Interviewer: Mr. McCrindle, you were telling me about the 35th Traffic Control Company, and the duty that it discharged in Italy following the fall of Rome. Can you describe a little bit for me the activities?
Well we were really inexperienced, and having been artillery gunners and then being converted to controlling traffic. Not quite like a traffic cop in Montreal, this was controlling traffic of big movements of tanks and guns and infantry, the whole shooting match, throughout Italy on the very narrow roads. And windy roads, the whole thing, mountainous roads, and it was quite a job. No one really realizes it. Actually I wasn't overly proud of my, I was still a gunner working for the traffic control, but eventually I became used to it. I said "What the hell, I'm still doing a job." And actually, sometimes we were closer to action and getting shelled, and at one point, machine gun fire, than we were in the artillery.
Interviewer: Your wireless training came into play as well?
Oh yes. We got the information of troop movements on the wireless set, and we'd either send DRs out, that's dispatch riders, send them out or use the telephone. Same as in the artillery, we use the telephone for the different, I forget what they call them, posts or something like that. I've forgotten the terminology.