Reprinted with permission from the book Hodge’s Cove by Eric Stringer, 2011
Name: SMITH, Roland
Service #: 2131
Branch of Service: Newfoundland Overseas Forestry Unit
Marital Status when enlisted: single
Duration of Service: January 2, 1940 – March 4, 1942
Medals awarded: none
Other noteworthy information: “We left Whitbourne and went by rail and ferry to Halifax. There I joined the Duchess of Richmond, a first class ocean liner. The journey took eight days to Liverpool, England. My first twelve months I spent overseas was in the south of England in the New Forest, twelve miles from Southampton. At that time, there was plenty of action with the enemy. They (the enemy) would make their raids daily. In spite of the raid action, we would always go to Southampton on our weekends. We were only five miles from the English Channel. I was there when the Germans tried to invade England. It was like hell in the sky. I spent six months fighting fires that had been caused by incendiary bombs.
I didn’t get any medals, but I deserved them as much as anyone in the Home Guard.
(as submitted by himself)