Description
During the cold winters in Italy they kept warm at night.
Robert Hislop
Mr. Hislop was born in Shellbrook, Saskatchewan on May 6,1921. He grew up during the depression and calls it “the hungry 30s”. In November 1941, he joined the army and was very lonely being away from home for the first time. When he arrived overseas he traveled to Aldershot by train and got his first taste of the beautiful scenery. Mr. Hislop served as a truck driver and Vickers machine gun operator during his tour in Italy. After the war Mr. Hislop was married and worked at a General Motors garage.
Transcript
In the army, in Italy up in the hills in winter it was cold. We used to put fires on. We burnt gasoline. We made a stove out of ammunition boxes and put used oil and a pipe led it down and it was burning at the other end and heat and it got pretty smoky in there. But the guys in the Army just stuck together, we’d be maybe eight or nine of us in a bombed out house and we’d all put our beds down, overcoats and sleep together just like hogs do. And everybody respected each other.