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"We were in a big convoy. No matter where you looked you saw ships."
See below for Mr. Knott's entire testimony.
Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.
![Telegram sent to Mr. Knott's mother, Margaret, on September 28, 1944, letting her know that he had received a bullet wound to his heel.]({"id":"465becc0-5b2d-4d6d-8e46-0aa4c3f871ca","disk":"s3","directory":"MemoryProject\/MurilandKnott","filename":"8066_538","extension":"jpg","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","aggregate_type":"image","size":48851,"variant_name":null,"original_media_id":null,"created_at":"2021-08-24T21:34:42.000000Z","updated_at":"2021-08-24T21:34:42.000000Z","title":"Telegram sent to Mr. Knott's mother, Margaret, on September 28, 1944, letting her know that he had received a bullet wound to his heel.","alt":"Telegram sent to Mr. Knott's mother, Margaret, on September 28, 1944, letting her know that he had received a bullet wound to his heel.","caption":null,"creator":null,"source":"Courtesy of Muriland Knott","conversion_urls":{"original":"https:\/\/d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net\/MemoryProject\/MurilandKnott\/8066_538.jpg"},"url":"https:\/\/d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net\/MemoryProject\/MurilandKnott\/8066_538.jpg","credit":"Courtesy of Muriland Knott","pivot":{"mediable_id":"6c7a09ff-7ddc-4cba-a26c-6e710207d345","media_id":"465becc0-5b2d-4d6d-8e46-0aa4c3f871ca","mediable_type":"App\\Models\\Article","tag":"gallery","order":1},"translations":[{"id":"168a8a91-56d8-4d41-92c2-e2db597e26d4","media_id":"465becc0-5b2d-4d6d-8e46-0aa4c3f871ca","title":"Telegram sent to Mr. Knott's mother, Margaret, on September 28, 1944, letting her know that he had received a bullet wound to his heel.","alt":"Telegram sent to Mr. Knott's mother, Margaret, on September 28, 1944, letting her know that he had received a bullet wound to his heel.","caption":null,"creator":null,"source":"Courtesy of Muriland Knott","locale":"en","credit":"Courtesy of Muriland Knott"},{"id":"abdbdaf4-4607-4684-b16e-1cd24abc46e4","media_id":"465becc0-5b2d-4d6d-8e46-0aa4c3f871ca","title":"T\u00e9l\u00e9gramme envoy\u00e9 \u00e0 Margaret, la m\u00e8re de monsieur Knott le 28 septembre 1944 pour l'informer qu'il avait rec\u00e7u une balle dans le talon.","alt":"T\u00e9l\u00e9gramme envoy\u00e9 \u00e0 Margaret, la m\u00e8re de monsieur Knott le 28 septembre 1944 pour l'informer qu'il avait rec\u00e7u une balle dans le talon.","caption":null,"creator":null,"source":"Avec la permission de Muriland Knott","locale":"fr","credit":"Avec la permission de Muriland Knott"}]} "Telegram sent to Mr. Knott's mother, Margaret, on September 28, 1944, letting her know that he had received a bullet wound to his heel.")
![Muriland Knott upon enlistment at the age of 17. Mr. Knott is a member of Curve Lake First Nation and before joining the Royal Canadian Regiment in 1942, he had never been further away from home than Peterborough, Ontario.]({"id":"cdcdc2c5-7e16-4804-8931-3a20badc42fb","disk":"s3","directory":"MemoryProject\/MurilandKnott","filename":"8065_538","extension":"jpg","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","aggregate_type":"image","size":24231,"variant_name":null,"original_media_id":null,"created_at":"2021-08-24T21:34:41.000000Z","updated_at":"2021-08-24T21:34:41.000000Z","title":"Muriland Knott upon enlistment at the age of 17. Mr. Knott is a member of Curve Lake First Nation and before joining the Royal Canadian Regiment in 1942, he had never been further away from home than Peterborough, Ontario.","alt":"Muriland Knott upon enlistment at the age of 17. Mr. Knott is a member of Curve Lake First Nation and before joining the Royal Canadian Regiment in 1942, he had never been further away from home than Peterborough, Ontario.","caption":null,"creator":null,"source":"Courtesy of Muriland Knott","conversion_urls":{"original":"https:\/\/d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net\/MemoryProject\/MurilandKnott\/8065_538.jpg"},"url":"https:\/\/d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net\/MemoryProject\/MurilandKnott\/8065_538.jpg","credit":"Courtesy of Muriland Knott","pivot":{"mediable_id":"6c7a09ff-7ddc-4cba-a26c-6e710207d345","media_id":"cdcdc2c5-7e16-4804-8931-3a20badc42fb","mediable_type":"App\\Models\\Article","tag":"gallery","order":2},"translations":[{"id":"8ba72782-0a0a-4375-a296-90ff21c052f5","media_id":"cdcdc2c5-7e16-4804-8931-3a20badc42fb","title":"Muriland Knott upon enlistment at the age of 17. Mr. Knott is a member of Curve Lake First Nation and before joining the Royal Canadian Regiment in 1942, he had never been further away from home than Peterborough, Ontario.","alt":"Muriland Knott upon enlistment at the age of 17. Mr. Knott is a member of Curve Lake First Nation and before joining the Royal Canadian Regiment in 1942, he had never been further away from home than Peterborough, Ontario.","caption":null,"creator":null,"source":"Courtesy of Muriland Knott","locale":"en","credit":"Courtesy of Muriland Knott"},{"id":"2b78ae27-af62-43db-a322-908e5c180b93","media_id":"cdcdc2c5-7e16-4804-8931-3a20badc42fb","title":"Muriland Knott lorsqu'il s'est engag\u00e9 \u00e0 17ans. Il est membre du Curve Lake First Nation, et avant d'avoir rejoint le R\u00e9giment Royal Canadien en 1942, il n'avait jamais quitt\u00e9 sa maison de Peterborough en Ontario.","alt":"Muriland Knott lorsqu'il s'est engag\u00e9 \u00e0 17ans. Il est membre du Curve Lake First Nation, et avant d'avoir rejoint le R\u00e9giment Royal Canadien en 1942, il n'avait jamais quitt\u00e9 sa maison de Peterborough en Ontario.","caption":null,"creator":null,"source":"Avec la permission de Muriland Knott","locale":"fr","credit":"Avec la permission de Muriland Knott"}]} "Muriland Knott upon enlistment at the age of 17. Mr. Knott is a member of Curve Lake First Nation and before joining the Royal Canadian Regiment in 1942, he had never been further away from home than Peterborough, Ontario.")
![Mr and Mrs Muriland Knott at a family celebration for the Year of the Veteran in June, 2005. Mr and Mrs Knott were married in 1946.]({"id":"e95cd893-c0c6-405a-8932-17df8f32f4f2","disk":"s3","directory":"MemoryProject\/MurilandKnott","filename":"8068_538","extension":"jpg","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","aggregate_type":"image","size":38082,"variant_name":null,"original_media_id":null,"created_at":"2021-08-24T21:34:42.000000Z","updated_at":"2021-08-24T21:34:42.000000Z","title":"Mr and Mrs Muriland Knott at a family celebration for the Year of the Veteran in June, 2005. Mr and Mrs Knott were married in 1946.","alt":"Mr and Mrs Muriland Knott at a family celebration for the Year of the Veteran in June, 2005. Mr and Mrs Knott were married in 1946.","caption":null,"creator":null,"source":"Courtesy of Muriland Knott","conversion_urls":{"original":"https:\/\/d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net\/MemoryProject\/MurilandKnott\/8068_538.jpg"},"url":"https:\/\/d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net\/MemoryProject\/MurilandKnott\/8068_538.jpg","credit":"Courtesy of Muriland Knott","pivot":{"mediable_id":"6c7a09ff-7ddc-4cba-a26c-6e710207d345","media_id":"e95cd893-c0c6-405a-8932-17df8f32f4f2","mediable_type":"App\\Models\\Article","tag":"gallery","order":3},"translations":[{"id":"032140ee-9486-4c50-961b-3f9261a823fa","media_id":"e95cd893-c0c6-405a-8932-17df8f32f4f2","title":"Mr and Mrs Muriland Knott at a family celebration for the Year of the Veteran in June, 2005. Mr and Mrs Knott were married in 1946.","alt":"Mr and Mrs Muriland Knott at a family celebration for the Year of the Veteran in June, 2005. Mr and Mrs Knott were married in 1946.","caption":null,"creator":null,"source":"Courtesy of Muriland Knott","locale":"en","credit":"Courtesy of Muriland Knott"},{"id":"11678f4e-516e-4774-816b-968743d3c439","media_id":"e95cd893-c0c6-405a-8932-17df8f32f4f2","title":"Monsieur et madame Muriland Knott lors d'une f\u00eate de famille pour l'ann\u00e9e du V\u00e9t\u00e9ran en juin 2005. Monsieur et madame Knott se sont mari\u00e9s en 1946.","alt":"Monsieur et madame Muriland Knott lors d'une f\u00eate de famille pour l'ann\u00e9e du V\u00e9t\u00e9ran en juin 2005. Monsieur et madame Knott se sont mari\u00e9s en 1946.","caption":null,"creator":null,"source":"Avec la permission de Muriland Knott","locale":"fr","credit":"Avec la permission de Muriland Knott"}]} "Mr and Mrs Muriland Knott at a family celebration for the Year of the Veteran in June, 2005. Mr and Mrs Knott were married in 1946.")
![Thirty-two men and women from Curve Lake First Nation enlisted during WWII. This photo shows a welcome home reception for the 23 servicemen and women who survived the war.]({"id":"fbe92439-b223-4553-87f0-c901f500c4e3","disk":"s3","directory":"MemoryProject\/MurilandKnott","filename":"8067_538","extension":"jpg","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","aggregate_type":"image","size":40056,"variant_name":null,"original_media_id":null,"created_at":"2021-08-24T21:34:42.000000Z","updated_at":"2021-08-24T21:34:42.000000Z","title":"Thirty-two men and women from Curve Lake First Nation enlisted during WWII. This photo shows a welcome home reception for the 23 servicemen and women who survived the war.","alt":"Thirty-two men and women from Curve Lake First Nation enlisted during WWII. This photo shows a welcome home reception for the 23 servicemen and women who survived the war.","caption":null,"creator":null,"source":"Courtesy of Muriland Knott","conversion_urls":{"original":"https:\/\/d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net\/MemoryProject\/MurilandKnott\/8067_538.jpg"},"url":"https:\/\/d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net\/MemoryProject\/MurilandKnott\/8067_538.jpg","credit":"Courtesy of Muriland Knott","pivot":{"mediable_id":"6c7a09ff-7ddc-4cba-a26c-6e710207d345","media_id":"fbe92439-b223-4553-87f0-c901f500c4e3","mediable_type":"App\\Models\\Article","tag":"gallery","order":4},"translations":[{"id":"394741f8-b961-48da-aa3e-5593878ae550","media_id":"fbe92439-b223-4553-87f0-c901f500c4e3","title":"Thirty-two men and women from Curve Lake First Nation enlisted during WWII. This photo shows a welcome home reception for the 23 servicemen and women who survived the war.","alt":"Thirty-two men and women from Curve Lake First Nation enlisted during WWII. This photo shows a welcome home reception for the 23 servicemen and women who survived the war.","caption":null,"creator":null,"source":"Courtesy of Muriland Knott","locale":"en","credit":"Courtesy of Muriland Knott"},{"id":"b6d5ae33-a87e-4d67-a5b6-98f856ca5bab","media_id":"fbe92439-b223-4553-87f0-c901f500c4e3","title":"Trente deux hommes et femmes du Curve Nation Lake se sont engag\u00e9 pendant la Seconde Guerre Mondiale. Cette photo a \u00e9t\u00e9 prise lors d'une r\u00e9ception pour c\u00e9l\u00e9brer le retour de 23 d'entre eux qui ont surv\u00e9cu \u00e0 la guerre.","alt":"Trente deux hommes et femmes du Curve Nation Lake se sont engag\u00e9 pendant la Seconde Guerre Mondiale. Cette photo a \u00e9t\u00e9 prise lors d'une r\u00e9ception pour c\u00e9l\u00e9brer le retour de 23 d'entre eux qui ont surv\u00e9cu \u00e0 la guerre.","caption":null,"creator":null,"source":"Avec la permission de Muriland Knott","locale":"fr","credit":"Avec la permission de Muriland Knott"}]} "Thirty-two men and women from Curve Lake First Nation enlisted during WWII. This photo shows a welcome home reception for the 23 servicemen and women who survived the war.")
Transcript
I joined up right on my seventeenth birthday, 1943. I had basic training in Cornwall, and then advanced training in Camp Ipperwash, and from Camp Ipperwash I went overseas. I stayed in England overnight. The next day we were on draft to go to Italy, and I believe we were about sixteen days going to Italy from England. We were in a big convoy. No matter where you looked you saw ships. A whole bunch of us young fellows were looking forward to seeing the Rock of Gibraltar, but the convoy stopped way out in the ocean, and we went in past Gibraltar at night while we were sleeping, and we eventually landed in Italy up around Naples. We were trucked over to the rear echelon, and first there was a role-call. There was a little village there named Avelino. After the roll-call we were told we could go and look around. There was an English canteen there. So we went down, and I met a couple of guys that were from my home village. One was guarding the battalion headquarters, and we went to canteen. There was another Curve Lake guy there, and he had been wounded so he was cooking in that cafeteria. I got talking to him, and he said, "I heard that you came overseas but I didn't expect to see you here." I said, "Here I am!" "What are you doing here, anyway?" he said. I told him, "I came over to help you lick the Germans." So he kind of laughed at me, because I was just a young man of seventeen. I was small, five foot five, a hundred and sixteen pounds. We went back up to an old house that we stayed in. We had dinner, and then we were to go on maneuvers up on a mountain. We got up to where we were supposed to have maneuvers, and we had settled down for the night, laying outside. We settled down, and a little while later we heard motorbikes coming. Shortly after the motorbikes stopped coming, there were trucks coming. The Sergeant and the Lieutenant came along. "OK, boys!" they said. "We're preparing to move." So we got ready and loaded on to trucks. The Captain was there and he said, "Well boys, you're heading for the front lines. They said, "God Bless You."
