WW11 Italian Campaign Memories

Hi people, YES I'm still alive and intrested . Here is a story from Canoe news I thought YOU all would like to read. Karmen sends:

War details still sharp after 60 years

To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high. If
ye break faith with us who die We shall
not sleep, though poppies grow In
Flanders fields. The Governor General
accompanies Canadian veterans,
including some locals, to Italy for a
12-day trip to mark the 60th
anniversary of the Italian campaign.
The gruelling, 20-month battle has
been overshadowed by D-Day.
MARISSA NELSON, FREE PRESS REPORTER
2004-10-26 03:24:13




It was the dazed look in the young
Italian man's eyes. He was on top
of a two-wheeled, ox-drawn cart,
clutching a baby.

The cart was moving but the young
father didn't seem to care where he
was going.

George Burrows still remembers
the man, more than 60 years later.

Burrows, born and raised in
Chatham, was part of the first wave
of Allied invasion troops to land in
Sicily. He was marching north from
the Pachino airport -- a major
target for Canadian troops on July
10, 1943, the first day of the invasion -- when he saw the young man on the cart.

"There were little holes through the baby's temples. Shrapnel had hit the baby.
That man had no idea where he was going. He was just going," Burrows said.

"It's something you see but you never forget."

Burrows, who now lives in Windsor, is one of 45 veterans from the campaign
marking the 60th anniversary in Italy this week as part of the official Veterans
Affairs delegation.

There are many details the now 81-year-old doesn't forget, including that his was
the "forgotten campaign" and that he is a "D-Day Dodger."

When D-Day came, days after the Allies got to Rome, the world's attention shifted
and it's never returned.

"It is upsetting. Forty per cent of the whole Canadian army was in Italy and we were
totally ignored," he said. "We were there twice as long."

The Italian campaign lasted from 1943 to 1945. More than 93,000 Canadian
troops fought there, a quarter of those became casualties and more than 5,900
gave their lives.

Although Burrows is a proud D-Day Dodger, he doesn't want to take anything away
from D-Day veterans.

"We just want equal treatment," he explained.

Burrows worries his campaign will not only continue to be forgotten but will be one
of many forgotten pieces of Second World War history.

"History education is in a terrible state. It should start early, in Grade 2," he said.
"They just let boards do what they want. There's no guidance from the upper
echelons of government."

It was still dark when Burrows, who enlisted at 17, got into the amphibious vehicle
that would take him to Pachino, a southern Sicilian town, with the Royal Canadian
Regiment.

"All of us were excited," Burrows remembered.

Nov. 1 will be the first time Burrows has been back to those beaches.

He still remembers the dust, which would cover him up to the waist, the steep
mountains and the stifling heat he fought through.

After Sicily, Burrows fought north through mainland Italy, at first as a rifleman and
then as a mortar man. It was in northern Italy where he was hit by shrapnel.

"When you sign up as an infantryman, your decision is already made. There's no
debate once you're out there," he said. "I signed up to the infantry because that's
where the war is fought -- you have to have men on the ground."

On Feb. 16, 1945, Burrows was in a house German troops had used when they all
realized the Germans had a big piece of artillery aimed at them.

There was no way out.

"We just stayed inside until they came in and saw us, with our hands up," Burrows
said.

He was taken to a prisoner of war camp in northern Italy where he remained until
May 4, 1945 -- his 22nd birthday.

Throughout the war, Burrows saw men crack under pressure but he became
accustomed to the routine.

He said that no matter what, you have to follow your training. If people fall next to
you, just keep going.

Burrows, who went in and out of the war as a private, was offered sergeant's
stripes but turned them down. He figured looking after himself was enough.

"You grow up extremely fast," he said. "You go from a boy to a man overnight. It
changes your whole life."