Fragments of War. Joyce Hibbert

      

      FRAGMENTS OF WAR

      Stories from Survivors of World War II

      by Joyce Hibbert

      with a Foreword by Earle Birney

      Dundurn Press

      Toronto London

      1985

      © Joyce Hibbert 1985

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except brief passages for purposes of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press Limited.

      Editor: Bernice Lever

      Design and Production: Green Graphics

      Typesetting, printing and binding:

      The Coach House Press, Toronto

      The Publication of this book was made possible by support from several sources. The author and publisher wish to acknowledge the generous assistance and ongoing support of the Canada Council and the Ontario Arts Council.

       J. Kirk Howard, Publisher

       Dundurn Press Limited P.O. Box 245, Station F Toronto, Canada, M4Y 2L5

      Canadian Cataloguing in Publication.

      Hibbert, Joyce, 1923-

      Fragments of war: stories from survivors of World War II.

      ISBN 0-919670-95-4 (bound). – ISBN 0-919670-94-6 (pbk.)

      1. World, War, 1939-1945 – Personal narratives, Canadian.

      2. Canada. Armed Forces – Biography. I. Title.

      D811.A2H52 1985 940.54'81'71 C85-099331-8

      British Cataloguing in Publication.

      Fragments of war: stories from survivors of World War II.

      1. World War, 1939-1945

      1. Hibbert, Joyce

      940.53 D743

      ISBN 0-919760-95-4

      ISBN 0-919760-94-6 Pbk

      In Memory of those who did not survive the hazards of WWII

      A conference of senior officers at First Canadian Headquarters, Amblie, France, 4 August 1944, (left to right) Lieutenant General H.D.G. Crerar, Air Marshall A.M. Coningham, General Sir Bernard Montgomery, and Air Chief Marshall, Sir T.L. Leigh-Mallory.

      Contents

       Foreword

       Preface

      SEA 1 Athenia Survivor.

       2 Aboard the Algonquin.

       3 Sinking of the S.S. Sinkiang.

      4 Salty Old Salt.

      5 To the Far Shore.

      LAND 6 Acceptance.

      7 Here and There with a Hasty Pee.

      8 Lost Dentures and Un Peu de Bren.

      9 Sister, Who Cares?.

      10 Guns and Mud and Luck.

      11 With First Overseas Draft of the CWACS.

      12 Joking in the Face of Death.

      13 Biscuit, Book, and Candle in Hong Kong.

      14 Capturing Pig Swill.

      15 Casualty Clearing.

      16 Headaches for a Fusilier Mont-Royal.

      17 Take Your Rosary, Son.

      18 No Nervous Breakdowns.

      19 It Could Always Be Worse.

      20 Canadian Girl in the A.T.S..

      21 Modern Weapons.

      22 Resistance in Holland.

      23 War and Love – A Soldier’s Lot.

      AIR 24 Special Squadron, Special Duties.

      25 Close Shaves and Steady Nerves.

      26 Red-Letter Memories of an Air Gunner.

      27 RCAF (Women’s Division) One of the First.

      28 Sand and Flies and Spitfires.

      29 Beating the Odds.

      30 Greenland Ordeal.

      Bibliography.

      Acknowledgements.

      Photography Credits.

      Foreword

      These memories of more than thirty Canadians separately caught up in the struggle against European fascism and its allies disprove Walt Whitman’s sceptical dictum that “the real war will never get in the books”. Certainly a remarkable