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Home on Leave |
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I went home on leave from Sussex in November, 1940, and while I was there I came down with Scarlet Fever. For the next four weeks I was quarantined at home. Although I enjoyed being with my parents, I was unable to leave the house, and found the time long. One day I told my Mother I was thinking of joining my cousin in the Air Force. She said, "Stay where you are. You're in enough trouble now!" Spoken like a true Mother.
When the quarantine period was over, just before Christmas, I was told to report to Quebec City, since the Regiment had moved to Newfoundland in the meantime. There I met, among others, Leo Murphy, who died only recently, and his brother, Reynald*, who, sadly, was killed in action in the defence of Hong Kong. I spent a memorable Christmas in Quebec, being treated excellently by several families that I met there. Little did I realize that I was passing up the opportunity of spending the last Christmas for four years with my father and my mother. |
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Home |
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Disclaimer |
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I Join the Army |
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Page 4 |
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Page 5 |
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Page 6 |
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Page 7 |
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Page 8 |
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Newfoundland |
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Page 9 |
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Early in January, 1941, the group of us there in Quebec City, were sent back to the Regiment, which was then stationed in Botwood and Gander, Newfoundland. We travelled by train to North Sidney, Nova Scotia, and from there to Port-aux-Basques on the old ferry Caribou which ran a regular schedule between the two points. The Caribou later became a casualty of the German U-Boat activity in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and her remains have lain on the bottom of the Gulf, somewhere out there, all these many years. |
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Page 10 |
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Page 11 |
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Page 12 |
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Page 13 |
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Page 14 |
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I joined my Company, "D" Company, in Botwood, glad to meet the friends I had made since joining the Army. Life in Botwood was rather quiet, since it was a small town with very little in the way of recreation, with the exception of ping-pong in the Salvation Army canteen. The guys used to amuse themselves by getting loaded on payday and busting up the Chinese restaurant in town. |
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Page 15 |
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Page 16 |
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Page 17 |
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Page 18 |
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One incident that took place while "D" Company was in Botwood involved a number of our lads. I'll not swear that it is true because I was not present at that particular time.
The Anglo-Newfoundland Development Company, a pulp and paper company owned a railroad, the A-N-D Railway, which ran from the mills in Grand Falls and Windsor to the port of Botwood, some twenty miles distant.
Occasionally we were permitted to hitch a ride to Grand Falls to spend the evening. The story goes that a couple of our stalwarts who's names shall, for the moment, remain hidden. It seeems, as the story goes, that they poured enough "Screech" into the engineer and the fireman, that they were able to persuade them to let them take over the controls and drive the train back to Botwood.
One of them, who had been a railroader, undertook to drive while the other shovelled the coal, and between the two of them brought the train to Botwood in record time. I am open to verification, corrections, or even denials of this tale. At any rate if true, it's a good story, and the same if it is not. |
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In My Memory |
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Photo Gallery |
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Click Here To Go To Part One
Home |
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Click Here
To Go To
Part Two
Home |
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Links |
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This picture was taken inside an H-Hut Barrack at Gander, Newfoundland, in the winter of 1941. I believe that this side of the H-Hut shows the space occupied by 17 Platoon in the foreground and 16 Platoon at the far end. What you see is one wing of "D" Company hut. 18 Platoon and 18R Platoon occupied the other wing, with the washrooms, laundry room, toilets, and drying room in between. This side of "D" Company hut was situated about twenty feet from the main railway line. |
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*Murphy, Reynald E/30639, December, 21/41 |
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Please mail me |
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Please View My Guestbook |
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