CARGIL, ORVAL
Orval Cargill
Orval enlisted in Dundas on July 23, 1940. He trained as a gunner in Petawawa. He was then shipped overseas on the Louis Pasteur on September 18, 1941. There he trained as a driver mechanic with the 5th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment in England. He served in England, Italy and France.
Orval Cargill
The 5th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment was part of the 5th Canadian Armoured Division. The 5th proceeded overseas in one main convoy, arriving in the United Kingdom in late 1941. It transferred to the Mediterranean theatre in November 1943. The division moved without its tanks and vehicles, inheriting heavily used equipment as a legacy from the veteran British 7th Armoured Division ("The Desert Rats") who they relieved on the Italian Front. It took several months for the division to be fully equipped with new vehicles. The 5th Armoured took part in the Italian Campaign until the end of 1944, seeing notable action on the Hitler Line after the Allied breakthrough at Cassino in May 1944 and also during Operation Olive on the Gothic Line in August 1944.
In January 1945, the division, moved by truck, train, and naval transport to Belgium via Livorno and Marseille. After arriving on the Western Front it joined the First Canadian Army in time to participate in the final advance into Germany. It was while the 5th was in France that Orval was wounded. He was discharged on October 30, 1945 – returning on the Queen Mary (a ship designed for 1,500 passengers, but carrying 5,000 for that trip.
