Sgt Hormis Youkhana

2026-Parachute Sgt Hormis Youkhana   Photo - Recovering in Bierut from wounds he received in Albania I joined the Levies on the 24th-11-41 in Habbaniya. I was placed in No:10 company and served in Mosul guarding the Aerodrome until 1942, No:11 company was also with us at that time, then we moved to Kirkuk until 1943 doing the same duties. In 1943 we were moved to Kharakeen in Iran our duties were to guard the supplies to Russia. Then one day a lecture was given to all our company about paratroops and how we need to free the world to make a democracy, I liked what I herd and joined the parachute company. G.K.- Where did you do your parachute training? Sgt- Our first jumps were in Habbaniya from Valencia aircraft then we were sent to Palestine for more jumps, after that I returned to Habbaniya with captain J.D.Lenning, I worked in H.Q. In 1944 we moved to Iran for mountain training, we were there for a month. Then we returned to Habbaniya for a short while before we left for Haifa. In Haifa I was ordered to take four soldiers with me to camp 22 PTC in Cairo, we were there for about ten days guarding supplies then moved on to Alexandria where we bordered a ship until we reached our base in Italy. G.K.- How long did the trip to Italy take? Sgt- It took about two days. We stayed in Italy for about a month, before we were transported to Albania by Infantry transport. photos; para training Italy   G.K. What happened in Albania? Sgt- The transports dropped us off on a beach near the town of Sarande. We stayed there the first day. On the second day my platoon was engaged in ambushes of two German motor transports and on the third day we bordered boats and made our way to another beach two hours away behind the German positions, then the order came to attack. When we attacked, it was uphill all the way. Our Major warned us that we would be under mortar fire and just as he said on the way up we were bombarded heavily, but thankfully no one was hurt. We advanced very fast, we were like mountain goats and actually crossed the enemy lines, one of the men from the other platoons fell into a German trench and two men from our platoon were killed that day.    G.K.- How long did it take to reach the German defense positions? Sgt- It took about one hour, like I said we moved very fast and caught the Germans by surprise but the actual fighting was all day. G.K.- What else happened that day? Sgt- The Town of Sarande was on our right, one of our platoons was ordered to go down into the town, on the way down they were bombed by Mortars, they scattered as they took cover, we did not know who did the shooting; we suspected they were British Guns. At 1800hrs [6 PM] Our Major ordered a "recognition" patrol to go into town and make contact with the British commando, he sent me, Lt Sherwood [pictured] and three other Levies. We started down the mountain until we hit a road and followed it into town. We were walking along the road when I suddenly felt uneasy and warned the Lieutenant that we should avoid walking on the road, he said not to worry we have secured the town, the commando will challenge us and we will answer with the password, we will be OK. When we got close to town we turned a corner and suddenly a machinegun opened up and we were all hit. I received four wounds, one in my right side and three in my right leg. We had run into an ambush. G.K.- Who ambushed you? Sgt- We don't know, I think it was a British patrol, or Albanian Partisan because I know I was shot by a Sten gun, I saw it, and there were no Germans reported that close to town. G.K. If they were British, how did they fail to see you were wearing the same uniforms? Sgt- Well, admittedly, it was a raining, the sun was going down and the visibility was poor. In the heat of the moment it was easy to mistake us for Germans. G,K. What happened to the ambush patrol? Sgt- They retreated; which is the usual way an ambush patrol behaves. G.K. What happened after you were shot? Sgt- We laid there until the next morning, none of us could move. The Lieutenant asked me to call out to see if anyone could hear. He asked me to try and call the commandos because their positions were close. So I called out "Help commando we are British, we are wounded", after a few shouts they finally heard us over all the noise of battle. We were put into canoes and taken back to our ships. I was taken to a transit hospital in Italy, there I was visited by our Sgt Major, Dawid Hassan [pictured], he came by ship to see how I was doing, and then back to Habbaniya. I was discharged medically unfit in April 1945. G.K.- What weapon did you carry in Albania? Sgt- I carried a Tommy gun, that was my usual weapon, but on the recognition patrol I carried the Bren. Sgt Youkhana, centre, marched in the 2003 ANZAC march during his visit to Australia from the US.