HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News Record, 2016-06-01, Page 1414 News Record • Wednesday, June 1, 2016
Clinton Second World War veteran
recounts tale of capture, escape in Italy
Clint Haggart
Former Clinton News Record
Staff
This story first came out on
December 1, 2004. Noel Flagg
recently passed away, so this
article has been reprinted in
his honour.
Few can say they spent
months behind enemy lines
during the Second World War.
Unfortunately, for one Clinton
man, those months were
spent in prison camps.
Noel Flagg, originally of
Dunneville, joined the Duf-
ferin-Haldimand Reserves in
1937/38 and spent two
weeks every summer train-
ing at Niagara -On -The -Lake.
In 1942, at the age of 22,
Flagg joined the regular
army with the Lincoln -
Welland Regiment.
Because he knew his way
around a motorcycle (he
owned his own Harley David-
son), he was able to become a
Dispatch Rider (DR) instruc-
tor at the Deburton, N.S. base.
Flagg was given a 1942 Har-
ley Davidson, but a call came
for 600 soldiers to go overseas.
Since all of his buddies were
going, Flagg wanted to go as
well.
His sergeant said he was
about to be promoted to ser-
geant, but since Flagg wanted
to go overseas, the sergeant
recommended him to be a DR
instructor upon arrival in Eng-
land in Flagg's pay book.
Every morning while in
England, Flagg said he would
go to the orderly's office to see
if he could get his DR instruc-
tor courses.
However, Flagg was sent to
commando training in North-
ern Scotland before the
courses were held.
One day, those in the com-
mando training were
marched to the Scottish coast
and went by boat to the Isle of
Erin.
Instead of returning to Scot-
land, the soldiers were put on
a boat that headed south.
They weren't told that they
were headed to Sicily.
Flagg and his comrades
were part of the first landing of
Italy on July 10, 1943 at 6 a.m.
Dieppe was the first big battle
of the war, said Flagg, adding
Sicily was the second.
The Canadians, British and
Americans all landed at differ-
ent parts of the island and
headed towards Messina.
Flagg was a member of the
Royal Canadian Regiment of
London.
As the regiment was
approaching Regabuto, Ger-
man tanks were spotted in the
town, so the commanding
officer sent Flagg's platoon
across the street and up a
mountain. Flagg said it took
all night to get up the
mountain.
As soon as they got up,
machine fun fire opened up
on them. The mountain was
filled with Germans.
Flagg and another soldier
jumped in a shell hole and
most of the platoon jumped
into the cement foundation.
The sergeant said, "Hey Flagg,
can you see where that
machine fun fire is coming
from?"
Every time Flagg raised his
head to look out, the bush in
front of him started losing
leaves to bullets. He said the
shots were coming from the
south, but he couldn't pin-
point where from.
Then, the Allied soldiers
own artillery started firing on
them. He said they were
smoking their heads off think-
ing
hinking it may be their last
cigarette.
When the artillery stopped,
Flagg told his comrade that he
was going to try running back
to the village to tell the artil-
lery to stop firing on them. His
comrade indicated that he
was crazy; Flagg only had a
rifle.
He took off ruining down a
45 degree slope along a small
stone fence, only to fall flat on
his face. As he was getting up,
Flagg said he heard a noise
and peeked over the fence
and saw a German cradling
his rifle and two Germans on
a machine gun behind him.
None of them noticed Flagg.
Flagg thought he'd have to
shoot the Germans or they'd
shoot him, so he knelt and
steadied the rifle on the stone
fence. As he was tightening his
finger on the trigger, Flagg
said the rifleman noticed him
and raised his gun. Flagg
pulled the trigger and it mis-
fired. He tired again and it
misfired again.
He couldn't shoot the Ger-
man, so he threw his rifle at
him. The machine gunners
were distracted by the thrown
rifle (which knocked the Ger-
man's rifle out of his hand,)
and Flagg started running
down the hill again, with the
sounds of machine gun fire
whistling over his head.
After jumping into a little
gully to catch his breath, he
spotted four Germans at the
same time they spotted him,
so he got up and started run-
ning again, with bullets still
flying over his head. Day was
breaking.
He reached the bottom
and jumped across the road
and hid under some cactus
bushes. He was planning to
wait out the day and run
again at night, until two
young German soldiers
walked down the road,
stopped in front of the
bushes where he was hiding
and said, "Okay, you can
come out of there. For you
the war is over."
Flagg was searched and
the Germans didn't find any
guns or ammo, and they lead
him away. Flagg said they
could tell he was nervous, so
they told him not to worry;
nwmo
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Learn about APM, meet NWMO staff, ask questions and
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519.386.6711
Monday
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10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Contributed photo
Noel Flagg and his wife, Dorothy Irene (Hoffman) Flagg. Noel
passed away on May 16 in his 99th year and is survived by his
wife. He was an active member and one-time president of the
Clinton branch of the Royal Canadian Legion.
they didn't plan on shooting
him.
He was taken for interro-
gation by a Captain from
Berlin. The captain spoke
perfect English. When he
asked Flagg where in Canada
he was from, Flagg said
Southern Ontario. The man
said he had been there
before, to Toronto and
Winnipeg.
Flagg asked him why he
was in the German army,
and the man said he
returned to Germany to visit
his parents before the war,
and they nabbed him and
made him an officer because
he was well educated.
The captain pulled out a
book and started asking
Flagg questions, such as the
whereabouts of his platoon.
Flagg said he wasn't going to
tell them anything and that
he got lost from his platoon.
The captain could tell he was
lying.
The captain pulled out a
book of American, British
and Canadian tanks an
asked Flagg which ones the
army had and how many.
Flagg picked out the three
biggest tanks he could find
and said they had "a bunch
of those':
CONTINUED > PAGE 15
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