WWII BATTLE MONTE CASSINO

Recalling Monte Cassino through my father’s eyes

John Bishop

My father, born in 1911, battered by the depression and by war service, didn’t say much about either when I was growing up. One of the few times I got him talking about his war experiences was after I came home from a Contiki tour of Europe which had included a visit to Monte Cassino, the Italian town which was the scene of a famous, but ultimately futile, battle on the Allied advance up Italy in 1944. My father was a trooper (‘drooper’, he said) in the 20th Battalion and Armoured Regiment – part of the Second NZEF. He drove a tank, initially in Egypt and North Africa; it was a British-made Crusader with a 37mm gun. Useless, he said. Kept breaking down. Couldn’t handle the sand. Engine overheated, and…

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NZ Today (Digital) - 1 Issue, No 79 Apr-May 18

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