Another River to Cross

About the Book

There are 96 narratives in Another River to Cross. I decided that the "Field of Honour" deserved to be the first story in the book. It is about my visit to my brother's grave site in Beny-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetary in Normandy. He was with the Royal Canadian Engineers and was killed, on June 6th, 1944, as he began his task of clearing obstacles from Juno Beach.

There are humorous stories, sad stories, action stories, and some are of events that took place on the periphery. Some accounts are descriptions of happenings that are one of a kind and probably would not be read elsewhere. My experiences are not exceptional and are probably the same as other front line soldiers and certainly not as intense as those of the Infantry fighters. However I did have a few close calls and certain actions will never leave my memory. I can still smell the acrid odour of burning cordite from the shells exploding very close to me. it was a time to pray for protection from above. I still think back to the time a V1 rocket (Buzz Bomb) landed, very close to me, many miles short of its intended target. It exploded with a tremendous blast shaking the very foundations of buildings along the street and left me bleeding from superficial cuts from flying glass.

Read about "Washing Machine Charlie" (also known as "the Mad Major"), the lone nightly visitor, a German pilot, harassing our area.

About the Author

Robert G. Sawdon was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on February 24, 1925. Because of his father's health (he had lost a leg in WWI in the second battle of the Somme in 1916), the family moved to Gilbert Plains, Manitoba in 1931. Bob took most of his schooling at Brickburn School in Gilbert Plains. He joined the army on September 29, 1942 at the age of seventeen. He stated that he was nineteen, which was the age for active duty, and covered up the last figure of his registration card with one edge of its holder.

After training in Winnipeg, and Camp Shilo, Manitoba, and Kingston, Ontario, Bob sailed for Scotland aboard the Queen Elizabeth Liner with 18, 000 service men arriving in Greenrock, Scotland July 1943. After being transferred to England for three months' stay, Bob sailed in October 1943 for Algeria arriving at the No. 1 Canadian Reinforcement Base at Philippeville, on November 7, 1943. With his Unit, Bob moved through Italy fighting briefly at the Florence Front and then over to the Gothic Line and into the Po Valley.

They left leghorn, Italy, arriving in Marseilles, France, in March 1945. they travelled through Lyon, Cambrai and into Belgium, then into Germany where Bob saw some washing hung on a rope at what was once the Siegfried Line. They were in Holland, near Amersfoot, when the war ended in 1945.

In 1945, Bob met a beautiful English girl, Patricia Barton, in London and they were married in Canada in 1950. Bob and Pat have three sons, Douglas, Robert, and Edward, and one daughter, Lynda, and three grandsons, Michael, Sergio and Jamil. In 1948 Bob joined the Post Office and in February of 1952, he transferred to the Customs Department. Bob was a customs inspector when he retired in 1981, and now resides in Pickering, Ontario with his wife, Pat. Before and after retirement he worked part-time selling gardening supplies for a nursery in Pickering.

Please check out web site www.cdnheroes.ca. A Tribute To Those Who Have Put Their Lives On The Line To Keep Our Country The True North Strong And Free.

Please read my stories, No's 29, 30 and 31.