The Huron Expositor, 1994-07-20, Page 3Close-up
Local veteran attended overseas reunion
Just more than a month ago
Seaforth businessman Frank Sills
returned from a trip to England
where he attended a three-day
reunion of Radar Mechanics and
operators from Canada, RCAF,
RAF, New Zealand Air Force,
Australian Air Force and technical
personnel from the U.S. forces. The
Huron Expositor asked Frank to
write an account of the trip:
BY FRANK SILLS
I fully expected to meet some old
friends at the three-day reunion of
Radar mechanics and operators in
England as I was attached to the
R.A.F. for almost four years. I
never met any old buddies there at
the reunion but later I visited two
W.R.N.S (Wren) Radar operators
who came to my station in Ireland
with my future wife Dinah (who
also was a Wren Radar operator).
In fact, I was the first one to meet
them because my Flt. Sgt. brought
them into me and said "Sills, tell
these Wrens everything you know
about Radar."
There was one other Wren with
them who now lives in Wales - I
didn't have time to get to see her
but did talk to her on the phone.
They were a great foursome, very
clever and to me a real vision in
their smart uniforms. As you can
notice, because of Dinah, I am very
partial to women of the Royal
Naval Service!
Since I came home to Seaforth
everyone has assumed that I was at
the D -Day celebrations. I didn't
qualify for that because on June 6 I
was in Rome, Italy which had been
captured the day before.
One other person (amongst about
two dozen that I became acquainted
with) was a former member of the
American 64th Fighter Wing during
the war. He told me he was writing
a book on the Wing and was great-
ly surprised when I told him that I
was a member on an R.A.F. unit
attached to that Wing. It was a total
surprise to him. Our unit was just
50 people in total and we did the
servicing of all the British Radar
units on the American 5th Army
front.
Actually I was R.C.A.F. attached
to R.A.F. Desert Air Force, Tactical
Air Force, Mediterranean Air Force,
American 5th Army, American 64th
Fighter Wing. Later in the Invasion
of Southern France I was attached
to American 7th Army, No wonder
the Canadian. Government nevvc
knew where we had been when we
came home because the majority of
the 6,000 Canadian Radar
Mechcanics were attached to many
other national Air Forces - mostly
in ones and twos but more if it was
a Squadron.
Since talking to this officer the
old head has churned up quite a
few memories of special jobs that I
did and I thought I'd relate a couple
of them..
Most people have heard of Monte
Cassino which was a mountain with
a large, ancient but very active
Monastery on the top. The moun-
ATiEID.. FS rureinni nUJU-
ION - Seaforth veteran Frank
Sills recently retumed from
England.
tain is at the entrance to the Lere
valley which led up to Rome. In
their retreat up the west side of
Italy the Germans had established
very strong fortifications there and
made it the key point in their
Gustau line because they com-
manded the terrain in almost very
direction.
I was called to a small 13 -man
Radar unit on one of the opposite
hills. It was a light warning set, a
type that I had never seen or even
heard of before. It was originally
designed to be transported on a
mule but this was set up on a 3/4
ton truck, with a small operations
shack and a rotating aerial. Their
job was to pass plots and keep an
eye on all the airplane traffic going
up and down the valley. When I got
there I said "What's the problem?".
The Canadian Corporal in charge of
the unit said "The set is going but
we can't get any picture on the
P.P.I tube (Plan Position
Indicator)."
It was the same as a T.V. tube
except it had squares on the face of
it and letters that you read across
and up when a blip appeared. This
blip was the result of the beam of
energy going out from the aerial
hitting an object like a plane or ship
and returning immediately to the
aerial which passed it down to the
P.P.I. tube as a blip. This energy
travelled at the speed of light (365
000 miles per second). The set
seemed to be O.K. so I immediately
checked the aerial. The two wires
coming into the shack had some
insulation off them so I wondered if
the eleetrie1 sine waves were hav-
inginterfet nce. These_were special
wires and neither they or I had any
so I said to the Corporal "Have you
got, any wax candles?" He replied
in the affirmative so I asked him to
melt them and I carefully moulded
it around each of the wires. Lo and
behold everything came up roses.
Call it Canadian ingenuity if you
wish but to me it was just plain
dumb luck.
The Monastery was quite plain
from that hill and several weeks
later it was finally taken. The
Americans couldn't take it but
reinforcements were brought over
from the British 8th Army on the
Adriatic side. These forces were
composed of Canadian, New Zea-
land and Polish regiments. In the
meantime the American general had
given the order to obliterate the
Monastery by the Air Force. They
blasted it with tons of bombs until
there was nothing left. At least it
appeared to be but there were sub-
terranean passages cut out of solid
rock and the Germans were very
much alive. The sides of the moun-
tains were potted with craters which
made it impossible for Canadian
tanks to make much headway. Both
the Canadians and New Zealanders
almost made the top but finally the
Poles did. They were helped a
certain amount by the French
Moroccan Troops (The Gowns)
who were fierce mountain troops
who made a very difficult climb up
precipitous areas that no one
expected to complete. The Poles
took the brunt of the battle.
I said the Goums were fierce and
I do mean that. No one wanted to
cross them and the Germans feared
them too. The Italian civilians were
terrified of them because at any
time if they were passing by they
would drop in to some home and
help themselves.
One day I watched them passing
past our unit. Out in front was a
French officer on a mule and
behind him would come the Goums
with no particular semblance of
order. An hour or so later there
would be another French officer on
a mule and another group of strag-
glers and finally a truck full of
sheep followed by a truck full of
women. I never did figure out the
women unless they were the medi-
cal staff. All men wore their native
burnoose clothing.
One day my C.O. asked me to
check our telephone line to the 64th
Fighter Wing headquarters as there
wasn't any response. With a driver
and a truck I backtracked the line
which was just lying alongside of
the road. I had a field telephone
and cut into the linea periodical to
see who I got. EventeeillY I came to
a culvert where our line went in
one end and seemed to come out
the other. I tested both sides and
found that I had my unit on one
side and Fighter headquarters on the
other. Pulling on them showed there
was nothing in between. Looking to
one side I saw this Goum camp and
about two dozen men watching me
very intently. Beside them was a
clothesline and I recognized our
wire. I immediately figured that
discretion was the better part of
valour so I spliced a new section in
and quietly drove away with a
friendly wave.
One other interesting job I had
was when I was sent up to Anzio
Beachhead to relieve a Bomb
Happy Sergeant. We had two Radar
units there, one in the British sector
and one in the American sector and
I had been to one of them before
with supplies. I had to stay a week
before there was a passage out.
It was a 12 -hour trip in a boat up
there. The first time I left at dusk
from Naples on L.C.T. craft (Land-
ing craft tank) and in the dark you
went out in the Mediterranean
around the German line (which
would be the Gustov) and landed at
Anzio at dawn. The L.C.T. was a
small craft with a crew of two,
room for two trucks, a pile of pota-
toes and a pile of bread. It was like
an overgrown landing craft and the
water lapped over the sides and wet
the bread and potatoes on the bot-
tom rows.
The second time up was on a
L.S.T. (Landing Ship Tank) and we
had to anchor off shore because the
German shells were coming out into
the harbour. The ship lowered a
DUKW, an amphibian craft which
had a propeller for water and when
you got to the beach wheels were
lowered, propeller disengaged and
power applied to the wheels. It was
a very neat vehicle. This time I was
up on the American sector for about
four weeks. A Sergeant and myself
built a dugout in an old ditch, cam-
ouflaged it and were as snug as a
bug in a rug. Behind us about 200
yards was an American Battery of
Medium artillery; 50 yards to the
right an anti-aircraft gun that most
nights was used as artillery. To our
left the 10 centimetre ops room
with a big hole in the aerial. In
front about 300 yards was an
ammunition dump on the right front
and a food dump on the left front.
Jerry would lob a shell over every
once in a while to keep the fellows
busy rebuilding their supplies. Dur-
ing the day there was an artificial
fog over the whole area which was
about a seven mile arc from the
water edge. There was so much
stuff up there that wasn't much
room left for anything else. They
say there were 700 guns in that
space and they fired all night with
every 5th shot a tracer so it was
like watching the 24th of May
every night. The Germans had the
high ground so there wasn't much
use in trying to advance with
limited man power.
The first time I went up I had a
driver and in the fog we were mov-
ing along when a British Tommy
stepped out and halted us. "Where
are you going?", he said. "To a
radar station up on the left hand
side," I said. I don't think so, he
said ,"Two hundred yards around
that bend there is the German line."
Naturally, we left and went looking
for more friendly faces. I was up
there when the army started coming
up the Lire Valley and made
contact with the Anzio Beach head
and I went back down to Naples on
the last boat and returned almost
immediately with my own unit and
parked on the ridge overlooking
what had been the Anzio Beach
head. It was a very exciting time.
About two months later I was one
of four people from our unit on the
invasion of Southern France at the
Riviera with the American . 7th
Army and the French 1st.
Frank Sills
St. Columban
by Cecilia Ryan
345-2028
Fifty-four descendants of the late
Daniel and Bridget Cronin attended
the ninth annual family reunion on
Saturday, July 9 at the St.
Columban Church Hall. Families
auending came from St. Columban,
Seaforth, Mitchell, Kitchener,
Mississauga, London, Woodstock,
Acton and Monkton.
Michelle Ummels, in charge of
the games, had a fun filled after-
noon of games prepared for every-
one. A potluck supper and lots of
visiting was enjoyed by all.
Winner of the door prize was
Sonia Smith and guessing games
were won by Nancy Cronin and
Stephen Cronin. Childrens draw
winners were Krista Cronin, Kari
Cronin, Alex Carruthers, Gary
Cronin, Steven Parsons, Bridget
Cronin, Christopher Cronin, Paul
Cronin, and Melissa Kan.
Draw winners were Alphonse
Cronin, Tracey DeJong, Jerome
Cronin, Crystal Carruthers, Robbie
DeJong, Bob Henderson, Andrew
Carruthers, Tracy DeJong, Melissa
Kan and Joanne Regier.
Hoedowners learn
twirl
by DEBBIE MALONE
The McKillop #1 Hoedowners
got going on their third meeting
by finishing old business and
moving right along to the danc-
ing. Jane Bennett was the first
caller. Club members refreshed
their memories by reviewing
dances learnedat the two previ-
ous meetings. By the end of the
meeting three the dancing stu-
dents were able to put together
two new dances, Chase the
Lady and the Texas Twirl. All
exhausted, they closed the meet-
ing and refreshments were
served.
•
CLEAN-UP CREW - This group of young people and others recently cleaned up the grounds
Park in Seaforth. They were responding to allegations of foul language and vandalism in an article on
the front page of last week's Huron Expositor. (See related letter on page 4). Bade row, from left: James
Mason, Curtis Costello, Rob Williams. Middle row: Laura Small, Barb Kenney, Tereasa Boniface, Tina
Overholt, Dean Price. Front row: Natalie Dale, Sean Fraiser, Cathy Jessome, Kevin Grldzak, Michelle
Cook, Kelly Hughes.
DAVID *OCIT MOTO
at Victoria
Glanville family holds reunion
The 42nd annual Glanville Reun-
ion was held on Sunday, July 10 at
Seaforth,* Lion Poste with 70, in
attendance.._
The afternoon started off with a
social time followed by a delicious
smorgasbord supmr. Richard Horst
said Grace. Pres Dorren McRoberts
thanked everyone for coming and
secretary Shirley Preszcator read the
reports. After supper, officers were
elected; President - David Glanville;
First Vice -President - Shirley
Preszcator. Games were enjoyed
and the following were winner*.
Birthday closest to reunion was
Lorne Glanville. Youngest baby,
Austin Ingray, six weeks old. The
children alloyed a candy scramble.
Kick the slipper 6 and up - Daniel
Arbo; Kick the slipper 5 years old -
Michele Hamilton, 4 years old -
Bradley Hill, 3 years old - Kurtis
Brand. Bag Race nine and under -
lst, Belinda Arbo, 2nd, Michele
Hamilton; Bag Race nine and over -
1st, Daniel Arbo, 2nd, Josh Horst;
Bag Race five and under - Jeremy
Farr.
It was decided to have the picnic
same place and the second Sunday
in July. Hope to see you all there.
We are to each bring a game and
prize.
THE HURON EXPOSITOR, July 20. 1994-3
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