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é we Remember Continued from page 41 “We threw our hats in the ai air ir and yelled for joy. Little did we know, six years lay ah Doug soon found himeclf o on ne continent. “We were positioned at LaHavre, France, on the Belgian border. Our job was to dig gun placements in anticipation of the German push south.” In those early days, Britain’s equipment was anti- quated. “Those were World War One guns. The crack they made ruined my hearing.” A six-man crew worked each artillery gun. “I was the ‘Number Two’ gunner. My job was to open and close the breach for every shell fired. That process required considerable coordination among the crew.” Ultimately, the German advance cut off the British positions. “We destroyed the guns, and were ordered to getto Dunkirk for evacuation ‘the best way you can.” Dunkirk was a military miracle amid a hellish scene. Under relentless German bombardment, English boats of all kinds evacuated thousands of otherwise-helpless men to fight another day. “One bomb fell very close when I was on the beach, and I was hit by shrapnel.” He holds up a small shard of rough, dark metal, perhaps half-inch square and a quarter-inch thick. “It took years to work its way out, but this is a piece from that German bomb.” Following recuperation, Doug’s unit reformed. “1 trained as a dispatch rider. And in 1941, we shipped out from Liverpool for India. It took us eight weeks. We had to go the long way, around Africa, be- cause the Suez Canal was plugged with sunken ships.” Conditions in India were definitely much different from Doug’s European experiences. The invading Japa- nese, he recalls, were not the only threat. to contend with malaria-carrying mosquitos, scorpions and poisonous snakes. We slept under nets and locked any containers against the other dangers.” Military adaptations were needed as well. 42 FOCUS - NOVEMBER 2014 OMESTEAD FURNITURE | &) APPLIANCES 1918 Scugog Street, Port Perry (across from Vos") 905-985-2451 www.FurnitureAndAppliances.ca Doug Franks shows small piece of metal shrapnel, from a German bomb, that took years to work its way out of his body. “We used ‘screw guns’ as artillery. They could be broken into 18 pieces and loaded on mules to go up mountains. “At one point we were sent to Goa, a Portuguese state on the west coast of India. The local headhunters — yep, real ones — offered Japanese heads for $40 each. That was too much money, so they were paid in food instead.” On guard duty one evening, Doug suffered his sec- ond serious wound of the war. “Several Japanese attacked our position in a slit trench. The man next to me was killed, and I was hand to hand with another attacker. He swung at me witha sword, severed my shoulder.” joug was evacuated to England for hospital treat-