The first group of Canadians with the
force were the first Canadians into Rome.
And I’ve always told the story that I was
one of the first Canadians out of Rome.
We went in on a recce patrol,
a reconnaissance patrol and we
went back in through the suburbs;
you’d go in the back door of a house,
through the house, across the road,
into the front door of the house and
out the back door.
We hitch-hopped quite a ways back in.
Our job was to go in, look around
and don’t cause any problems.
Well, we heard an artillery piece fire
and it was awfully close.
Now we knew it wasn’t one of ours.
So I was second scout and we went
up to the 3rd floor of this house and
kept away from the window but
looked out and there was
a German self-propelled gun
sitting beside a garage across the road
and just as we were watching him,
he let go another one and
you swore it was coming right in
that window but he couldn’t see us,
we were far enough away.
And we downed the stairs and
reported it to the sergeant in charge
of the patrol and he wanted
two volunteers, you and you!
So myself and another Canadian
were sent back with the idea of
getting some backup if needed.
And he said, “We’ll give you one
hour after you get back.”
And because we were coming out
in leaps and bounds,
that’s the way we went in and
I could run faster than the other guy
so I always said I was the first Canadian
out of Rome and nobody ever disputed it.