Description
Mr. Hislop talks about training before going overseas.
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
We spent one year in Joliette, Quebec and Three Rivers together before going overseas. I trained motorcycle riding, truck driving and machine gun, Vickers machine gun, stripping and so on. And on the machine gun, you were trained to take the main lock out and put it back together blind folded.Interviewer: How difficult was that to do? The first few times were very difficult, but you soon caught on and we used to think, “Well, why am I doing this blindfolded? ” Well they said, “It’s going to get dark and you won’t be able to see. So you must be able to repair that lock in the dark.” That’s blindfolded.