My father and the Second World War - Anzio

In late January 1944, the First Reconnaisance Regiment was part of the First Division of the British Army as it landed in Anzio, north-east of Rome in Italy. The goal was to create a fast route to Rome, but as it happened the army was to be held at the Anzio beachead until May.

On February 8, 1944, my father, John Gerrard, the medical officer for the regiment, was providing care for the wounded at the Regimental Aid Post. It was a day of heavy fighting. As Gordon Nisbett wrote later "The relentless shelling by 88 mm German guns continued unabated and JG's aid post became crowded. Some men had sustained manageable wounds but others, because of the severity of their wounds, were in need of more help and care than the aid post could give." These men needed to be transported to the field hospital, but such transportation was impossible while the fire was this heavy.

Fortunately, there was a break in the firing, and my father took those in the aid post to the field hospital in the regimental aid truck. "walking and stretchered casualties were crowded into its covered, tiny, rear compartment." Shortly after they had left "a single, heavy shell (we thought one of 155 mm) crashed through the roof of the farmhouse, penetrated two floors and devastated the evacuated regimental aid post." It was little short of a miracle that everyone had been evaculated, and no one was injured or killed.

This was but one incident during three years in which my father was with the First Recce Regiment while it was engaged in the war.

This morning my father was presented with a Thank you badge by the cub scouts of the Fort Garry United Church. The message on the note accompanying the badge is "Scouting thanks you for all you have done to protect Peace and Freedom worldwide."

My thanks go out to Garrett Suss and the other cubs for the effort they made to say thank you. The photo shows my father receiving the badge from Garrett.