D-Day Dodgers

[1] Reference to a "D-Day Dodger" was bitingly sarcastic, given the steady stream of Allied service personnel who were being killed or wounded in combat on the Italian front.

A "dodger" is someone who avoids something; the soldiers in Italy felt that their sacrifices were being ignored after the invasion of Normandy, and a "D-Day Dodger" was a reference to someone who was supposedly avoiding real combat by serving in Italy, whereas the reality was anything but - as the numerous allied war cemeteries in locations such as Monte Cassino testify.

Several versions of a song called "D-Day Dodgers", set to the tune "Lili Marleen" (a favourite song of all troops in the North African Campaign – the British Eighth Army was a veteran formation from that theatre before landing in Italy), were sung with gusto in the last months of the war, and at post-war reunions.

The song was written in November 1944 by Lance-Sergeant Harry Pynn of the Tank Rescue Section, 19 Army Fire Brigade, who was with the 78th Infantry Division just south of Bologna, Italy.

[1] There were many variations on verses and even the chorus, but the song generally and sarcastically referred to how easy their life in Italy was.

Italian campaign veterans noted that they had been in action for eleven months before the Normandy landings, and some of those had served in North Africa even before that.

The numerous Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries across Italy are compelling evidence of the fighting which took place during campaigns such as Operation Avalanche and the subsequent Battle of Monte Cassino.

We landed at Salerno, a holiday with pay, Jerry brought the band down to greet us on our way Showed us the sights and gave us tea, We all sang songs, the beer was free.

Heartbreak, and toil and suffering gone The boys beneath them slumber on They were the D-Day Dodgers, who'll stay in Italy.