The instrument was lost in the confusion of battle and returned after the Second World War: 60th anniversary of raid
Chris Wattie
National Post
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| A 19-year-old bugler, Private Matt Minnick of the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry, says it is an honour to have been chosen to play today. |
DIEPPE, France - A group of Canadian soldiers have brought a piece of history back to Dieppe.
A bugle that was lost on the beaches of this French port during the disastrous 1942 raid has returned to play the haunting tones of Last Post in ceremonies today marking the 60th anniversary of the raid.
The ornately engraved silver bugle was carried ashore by the men of the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry Regiment when they stormed on to Dieppe's stony beach on Aug. 19, 1942, but like so many of the nearly 5,000 Canadian soldiers who participated in the raid, it never came home.
The bugle, a gift to the regiment from a British light infantry unit, was lost in the confusion and havoc of the nine-hour raid.
Just 217 of the nearly 600 soldiers of the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry -- affectionately known as the Rileys -- returned to England after the raid, and half of them were wounded. The remaining two-thirds of the troops were either killed or taken prisoner.
"They were lucky that all the guys weren't killed,'' said Les Luey, 79, who was a private in the Rileys in 1942. "I don't know how some of them made it as far as they did.''
The bugle was returned to the regiment under somewhat mysterious circumstances at the end of the war, apparently by a member of the French resistance who found it somewhere on the beach after the raid. The official history of the regiment, now a militia unit based in Hamilton, does not give details of the instrument's return, but members decided to bring it back for today's anniversary of the raid.
More than 900 Canadian soldiers were killed in the raid, the greatest disaster in Canadian military history. Poor planning, bad luck and blunders led some of the 5,000 troops into a wholesale slaughter and left nearly 2,000 to be taken prisoner by the town's German defenders.
Most of the soldiers were caught in a murderous cross-fire by machine-guns in the buildings of the town and artillery atop the tall, chalk cliffs overlooking the beach and got no further than the one- to two-metre-tall seawall that lined the stone and gravel shoreline.
The Rileys however, were among the handful of Canadians who somehow managed to cross the 150 metres of open ground to assault the Germans dug into the medieval stone buildings lining Dieppe's waterfront.
Looking along Dieppe's broad, flat esplanade, Mr. Luey, who was wounded in the raid and later taken prisoner, shakes his head in dismay. "Look at that,'' he says. "No cover or anything. All the buildings [facing the beach] were full of Germans; there was wire all over the place; and bullets seemed to be coming from everywhere.''
"It's a miracle anyone made it.''
They captured the large casino that dominated the western end of the Esplanade, or waterfront, and some even succeeded in penetrating into the town before becoming bogged down in vicious street-to-street fighting in Dieppe's narrow cobblestone lanes and alleys.
Most of the soldiers who braved the deadly German fire, however, were forced to surrender by the end of the day. Mr. Luey still has the scars left by the ropes and handcuffs with which he was bound for more than a year.
"It was about 14 months all told,'' he said. "We were handcuffed and shackled ... the Germans got tired of it eventually, I think because it was so much work for them to shackle and then unshackle us every day.''
Hundreds of Canadian veterans, soldiers and spectators have crowded into Dieppe for today's anniversary commemoration, making it virtually impossible to find a hotel room in the already busy resort town.
Rey Pagtakhan, the Minister of Veterans Affairs, and John McCallum, the Minister of National Defence, are heading up the Canadian delegation to the memorial ceremonies, but senior French government and military officials will also be in attendance.
Ordinary French citizens have been enthusiastically welcoming the Canadians, particularly the veterans, waving cheerfully to them on the streets or even stopping to impulsively embrace them. Red-and-white maple leafs have begun sprouting from windows and balconies across town.
The veterans are treated like rock stars in this small resort town. After a commemorative Mass yesterday in a 13th-century Dieppe church, crowds of onlookers cheered and applauded each veteran as he came out of the church and lined up to have their picture taken next to them.
The "Dieppe Bugle'' has become a treasured relic of the Hamilton regiment, and Private Matt Minnick, the bugler who will play it at today's ceremonies, says with a grin that he is under strict orders not to let it out of his sight.
"It's a great honour to be chosen to play this, when you think about everything that happened here and all the blood that was shed,'' the 19-year-old engineering student says, cradling the bright silver instrument carefully.
"Last Post is the last bugle call they play in the day. When you think about it, they never got the chance to play it here in 1942 -- so it's almost like they've been at this post for 60 years.''
He pauses and gives the gleaming bugle a quick buff. "It's like I'm playing Last Post for them, to bring them home.''
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