Dieppe was a Bad Place

When we were going in I think it’s pretty scary although, like I say, being so young we didn’t take it too bad, too serious but then when you get there and all the disaster that’s happening and then you realize it’s a bad place. The infantry especially was, a pile of people died. We had the cover of a tank which saved our lives. If you’re out in the open you know how easy that’d be to die. I think it was almost a thousand people lost their lives from the infantry. We lost 13 in the tanks.

Interviewer: So within the tanks, were you able to visibly see what was happening all around you?

Yes, you have a periscope in there. You can see out, ya. Well, the gunner’s the main thing there because he has to pick targets and silence all the guns and whatever he can do. So I think his job was the most important anyway. There’s so many people put their life on the line. When you walk ashore on a flat beach, what chance do you have to live? So that’s what happened there. The tank protection was a good thing for us. That’s why we lived.

Interviewer: Did you at any time feel like it was a very hopeless situation? Did you know that the point of surrendering was upon you?

We didn’t know that at the start. Like it ran for eight hours before that took place and somebody, probably higher up, decided that there were too many men getting killed so they decided to surrender.