- Contributed by听
- A7431347
- People in story:听
- Owen Hughes
- Location of story:听
- Monte Casino
- Background to story:听
- Army
- Article ID:听
- A6189294
- Contributed on:听
- 18 October 2005
It was 1943 or 1944 at Monte Casino.
My father was with the Royal Artillery on the twenty five pounders.
He was firing the gun up towards the monastery. He was caught short, but there were people around, so he went down the road to find a bush. He heard the noise of a plane overhead. It sounded like a Stuka (dive bomber). There was a loud bang, the ground shook a little bit, but he thought it was just the guns firing at the monastery. When he got back to his gun, he was shocked to find there was just a smouldering heap. His mates were lying dead. They took it direct.
He was horrified to see what happened. He felt guilty that he had been out of the way. There are six in an artillery unit and all the other five were killed. He was the driver and then there was no crew.
This story was submitted to the People's War website by Helena Noifeld of 大象传媒 Radio Kent and has been added to the website on behalf of Owen Hughes with his son Andrew Hughes' permission. He fully understands the site's terms and conditions.
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