Preparing for D-Day (Part 2)

Heroes Remember

Preparing for D-Day (Part 2)

Transcript

The other thing that was happening at that time, I don't think we were a part of it, maybe once, but we understood at the time that as far as the invasion itself was concerned, that every night there was a number of ships from different ports going, and they would go part way to wherever they were going and then turn around and come back again and it was our understanding that at that time as part of the security and a part of the fooling of the Germans that this was happening every night. I think we only took part in one operation of that nature. But the, it was amazing that we had a few air raids in the thing, but all during that period in the Solent and other ships, I mean there was hundreds of ships there and around and moving and there was very, very little German air activity, some, but very little, which was surprising to us. But, of course the RAF had command of the air then and later in the invasion itself, which was very fortunate because we thought it would be a lot worse than it was. We were all in anticipation and really you know we'd waited so long everybody was relieved when we started to move. It was on the evening on the 5th of June, about 8:30 in the evening we, in our particular case, we hoisted our anchor and moved out of the Solent and headed south.

Description

Mr. Gorsline talks about the time leading-up to D-Day.

John Henry Gorsline

Mr. Gorsline was born on November 12, 1924 in Collingwood, Ontario. He joined the Navy in November of 1942 on his 18th birthday. Mr. Gorsline served aboard the HMCS Prince David as a radar operator and returned to civilian life in September 1945.

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