大象传媒

Martin Heywood in Conversation with his Uncle Stanley Arthur Coo, March 14th 1999

Driving for the Brigadier

From the first days of the Normandy D-Day landings, Stanley Arthur Coo was the driver for one of New Zealand鈥檚 most distinguished military leaders, Brigadier James Hargest CBE. Almost every day for over two months Stan Coo was with the Brigadier, driving him to the front line and coming under enemy fire, as the Brigadier observed the Allies' attempts to break out of Normandy. Stan, although he did not know it at the time, was in a unique position to observe the Brigadier in what were the last two months of his life.
He recalled some of his memories in an informal conversation with his nephew Martin Heywood. This conversation follows with minor editing, and the stories are not in chronological order. The conversation begins with Stan describing what he and the Brigadier found after the Allies had bombed a German gun emplacement.

Stanley Arthur Coo
Driver T189673,
Royal Army Service Corp,
69th Brigade,
50th Northumberland Division.

Here is the conversation:

SC: We just went along to this place. We'd heard about these guns that had been finished off by the aeroplanes, and we went down the coast road and came across the site. There was four of these big gun emplacements, huge places they were, damn great guns pointing out to sea. They had a lot, I don't know how many, of bomber raids but had blasted hell out of the whole district, you couldn't see a piece of ground that was there prior to the bombing. Every bomb hole was overlapping the next bomb hole, and do you know that these concrete encasements weren't even scratched? Yet all the crews were dead, the whole lot of them, all killed by concussion. The guns were just as good as the day there were put in there when you see them, and it hadn't even scratched the bleeding concrete. Thousand pound bombs they were dropping on them.

MH: What did you have to go there for, to see what had happened?

SC: We just called in there on the way to somewhere else.

We go to see the Marines at a place called Port-en-Bessin. That was the furthest point of the British landings, the next one over was the Yanks, see. They had to take this little port called Port-en-Bessin and all Marine commandos were sent in there. And that's who we were going to see when we passed these guns. And we went in to go to this port. They captured it, the Marines, all hanging around. We was stood there talking to them and the old man wandered off with the officer and had a conflab with him, and I was sat on the wall and all of a sudden blinking bullets kept hitting the house just behind me and I thought "Were the hell's that coming from?" I couldn't make out, and I got my rifle out the jeep and I'm having a look round and these bullets still are whistling past. We never did find out where they came from. Anyway the Brigadier came back. He said, "Having a shot, Coo?" I said, "I can't see any bugger to shoot at." He took no notice. Anyway we went back with this officer and he had a bloke sat along side him, with his hand bandaged and the Brigadier said "Have you been wounded?" He (the officer) said, "Self inflicted," said he'd shot his finger off. He was under close arrest. Nobody's taking any notice of him just left sat there with his finger off and this bit of rough old bandage round his hand. Anyway I had a bottle of rum in the jeep, that's standard issue when they come on an invasion, they give you a bottle of rum. I've never touched it myself, I hate the stuff. Anyway I gave him this bottle of rum, he must have drunk a bleeding half of it.

MH: Did the Brigadier have anything to say to him then?

SC: No he never spoke to him. Contempt I think.

MH: Yes, well you can be Court-Martialled for that can't you?

SC: Yes, he was for it when he got back.

MH: When did you first meet the Brigadier in England?

SC: Oh In England? Just outside Southampton. I was told I would be driving a Brigadier and then we were all sent down these country lanes to our various spots, they'd got a spot for everybody. Sent us down these country lanes and we parked our vehicles and just sat there waiting. All of a sudden a big staff car comes driving up. I'm laid there sun bathing, no boots on. A bloke comes along "Your name Coo?" I said "Yeah." He said, "There's an officer over there wants to see you." I goes trotting along in my bare feet, no hat on, no shirt. Anyway turned out to be the Brigadier. He'd come up in his other car, he had a Humber, and he'd brought some tinned food, tinned sweet stuff, you know pears and peaches. A big sack full of it there. He said, "Can you put these in your vehicle?" he said "We'll take 'em with us." So I put this big sack in the back of the jeep. That was the first time I met him. Couldn't very well stand to attention saluting with no bleeding clothes on. I could see him grinning to himself!

MH: How soon was that before D-day?

SC: About two days before.

And then they have you in two lots, they had the vehicles and drivers outside the camp all down these country lanes, and they're told nothing. There is a passenger, or more than one passenger, on each vehicle and they go in the camp and they can't come out. They're briefed on what's going to happen when they get to the other side. Well we're not, so we know nothing and our passengers know everything. But I finally finished up with an officer's mess waiter, he was my passenger. We get going, when they let them out the camp at the last minute, march them down the road and drop one off at each vehicle, and off we went. When darkness came somebody guided us down the dock side and shoved us on a ship and when we get to the other side I said "What do we do now then?" he said "I don't know," and there we are sat on the beach and he'd supposed to have been briefed, but he hadn't, he went to the cinema instead. It was a big Yankee camp with a cinema. He hadn't been briefed so we were scratching our heads wondering what the hell to do. Anyway I see that bearded beach master, I don't know whether you've seen him or not but he was on the pictures a lot around about that time. He was in charge of the whole thing you know. So I went to see him and he said "Yes you want 50 Div HQ, follow the tank tracks through the road and you come to a proper road, turn left and you come to it," and that's how we got to the Div.

MH: Is that still in England or France?

SC: No that's in France.

MH: You didn't actually have the Brigadier with you when you landed?

SC: Oh no he went in on foot earlier on before me, he went in with the infantry.

MH: You met up with him at HQ?

SC: I picked him up when I got to Div HQ, which had already been set up there.

MH: So were you based at HQ all the time and just went out every day?

SC: Oh yeah from Div HQ. Went out for the day then came back to where he had his dinner I suppose.

MH: Did he have a mess tent?

SC: He had a little tent on the side of his Humber, you know a little lean too thing where he used to live. The Humber never moved unless the camp did, unless we moved Div HQ. He had another driver as well but all he done was sat there reading.

MH: He drove the Humber did he?

SC: Yeah that's all he got to do, he never moved.

MH: You say he had a batman with him.

SC: We took the batman with us one day. He only stuck the one day, he didn't come any more.

MH: You took him out in the jeep one day?

SC: Yeah, and the reporter. I had a Yankee reporter with me. A bloke called O鈥機onnor. He was all ... well I don't know what he was supposed to be but he had ... it looked like an army uniform and he has a navy mackintosh thing on the back with "Navy" written right across the back of it. What he was supposed to be I don't know. I suppose he was a war correspondent.

MH: He only stayed at HQ did he?

SC: Yeah I don't know where he lived I'm sure. He used to turn up in the morning when its time to go. We were waiting for the Brigadier one day sat in the jeep with this Yank and he said, "Let's go for a snipe hunt shall we." I said "You what?" "Let's go see if we can find a sniper." I said, "don't talk bloody daft man. Sniper'll find you long before you find him!" He'd got a revolver too.

MH: So who decided where you went with the Brigadier? Did you get your orders from anybody?

SC: He had a discussion with the General before he came down to the jeep see, got his orders for the day and where to go and what to find out. And wherever there was any trouble in the area, you know if Jerry was attacking or we was retreating, that's where he sent him. See what was happening.

MH: Did you say you were the most shot at soldier in the war?

SC: Yeah right, they hated the sights of me in the finish, the front line blokes. Every time I went near they got mortared.

I've been told to clear off!

MH: That鈥檚 not very nice is it?

SC: This was the day he got killed; we went down this field into the far end, it was a slightly sloping field it was. Coming through the top the Jerries could see me, and they started mortaring us as soon as I turned into the field. Anyhow I finally got under the hedge at the far side of the field and they couldn't see me any more, so they started mortaring all along the line hoping to find me. Well they didn't. Anyway big B gets out and goes to find the Colonel of these infantry men who was holding the line. I gets out and sits down along side the jeep and then this bloody mortaring started up again and a voice from under the hedge shouted, "For Christ's sake piss off, every time you come near we get mortared!" Don't know who it was, it could have been anybody, but they didn't like it. My orders were to stay there so I just stayed there.

MH: What happened then?

SC: I can tell a mortar a mile away, not like a shell, you can't hear a shell, all you hear when a shell comes over is a big bang, where you can hear a mortar coming down. Ever seen a mortar? Like a barrel. It shoots it up in the air, God knows how high it goes but it goes very high, but it can hit a target about 50 feet away if it wants to. Drop it straight on 'em see. Peculiar weapon but they can be very accurate once they get the range. When they come down you don't hear them going off, but when they come down they make a sort of a squealing sound. You can always tell a mortar. That's when you lay down quick.

MH: So what happened when the Brigadier had seen this Colonel? Did you retreat?

SC: No he just done what he'd got to do with the O.C. of these troops and we set off back again, and as we set off back, the moment we cleared this hedge, they started mortaring us again. Just behind us all the way, and I was going like the hammers of hell and they was dropping just behind and when I got to the gate of the field with this very narrow lane, I had to drop into bottom gear and slowly turn round and that's when they hit him.

MH: It exploded on his side of the jeep did it?

SC: Yes. He did shield me that time. He got the lot. He was a big bloke. He completely obliterated me.

MH: But you didn't know he was dead though at the time.

SC: No, not until the bloke in the... Even when he told me he was dead I said, "He's breathing." His mouth was going "pu..pu.." He said "No that's just gas from his stomach."

MH: How far did you have to drive back to the hospital with him?

SC: Oh it was only about quarter of a mile. It wasn't a hospital it was what you call a forward dressing station, just temporary..... and then they send you on from there to the hospital if necessary. It was a field-dressing station. They couldn't do nothing for him.

MH: You were uninjured? You didn't get hurt at all?

SC: No.

MH: You said he was wounded another time, at some crossroads.

SC: That's when he got wounded, we were going down an ordinary country road and come to this little crossroads and farmhouses on either side on each corner. A typical little French village. All of a sudden you heard "Stop!" So I stopped immediately. Which only just happened to be in the middle of the bleeding cross roads. He said "Back up" so I backed up. He said, "We're looking for some mortars. I'm sure I can see them down there." Anyway I backed up along side this house. He gets out and walks round the corner and in the same minute a salvo of mortars came over knocking hell out of this house and there's bricks and motor flying all over my jeep. So I jumped in the jeep and backed it well clear of the house about 50 yards back. I get out and walking back towards the house I see the Brigadier coming round the corner on his hands and knees. Got him to his feet he said, "That was a close one, Coo!" He got 14 little wounds, nothing serious. His trousers were torn; he'd got a little bit in here (Stan points to his body. MH), all his arms were cut. The mortar had dropped on the road which is the worst thing that can happen. If they drop in a field they penetrate about a foot and everything goes upwards. You're practically safe within a foot of a mortar if you鈥檙e in a ploughed field but if it hits anything hard that's when you've got to watch it. It hit the road and all the tarmac flew up, he got all these little bits of tar. It wasn't the mortar it was all the bloody tar that hit him. Bits of the road.

MH: You drove him back?

SC: We set off back and I thought he was looking for the dressing station. We came across one and I turned and he said, "Where are you going?" I said, "To get you seen to." He said "To Div HQ first." So we went back, got him to Div HQ where the CRA was, that's the bloke in charge of all the divisional artillery, and he sees this CRA and gives him the exact location of where these mortars were, right to the yard he got it. He pin-pointed this location. And the whole of the Div artillery opened up on this one spot. We went and had a look after and they didn't half blast it. There was four or five mortars all there hanging at different angles, bodies all over the place.
Unbeknown to me that's what we'd been sent up there for, to find this bloody mortar battery that was holding them up. He didn't tell me that.

MH: He was more than just an observer then wasn't he?

SC: Oh yes he was a big help.

MH: The articles we've read (from off the Internet) said he was an observer.

SC: They had to give him some sort of a title; he wasn't supposed to be there at all. He was the only New Zealander on the invasion, the rest of the New Zealanders were still in Italy.

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This marks the end of chapter one. Chapter two has been posted separately

Martin Heywood, 2nd April 1999

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