Gerald Linehan was born on Colinet Island. He was a woodsman and a fisherman who had some interesting wartime travels and experiences.

THE REST IS HISTORY

I was born on Colinet Island. I lived there for 33-34 years before moving to Admiral's Beach. I had to walk to school every day – about one mile. No matter what the weather was like, we had to walk. Most of the time for lunch we had a slice of bread and butter and that was it. We used to go to school in our bare feet from April up until the frost came in the Fall. We had slates and spent time drawing pictures on slates. We had to go to St. Joseph's for our Grade 8 exams. After that I knocked off.

In the summer months we would be down on the wharf catching sculpins and connors. We would make boats out of reeds and go sailing them. I went to work over in Argentia at the age of 16. I would punch tickets in the Mess Hall. I would have to be there for breakfast, dinner and supper taking tickets so no one would eat for free. I worked there for four months and then another four months the next year. I came home then and went fishing for a year. Then I spent eight years cutting wood in Deer Lake.

ON WAR TIMES

One morning, during World War II, a plane came down in the water and the soldiers walked into Mosquito Island. It was an American plane. Everybody was frightened until they realized that the soldiers were alright and that they weren't going to cause any harm. They called over to Argentia and they sent a destroyer with searchlights. Everyone was afraid because they didn't know whether it was German or not. But it was an American boat looking for their soldiers.

Some sailors came ashore and started looking for them, but somebody was after taking them to O'Donnell's and taking a taxi back to Argentia. The next morning someone was going out fishing and they saw the plane. They got it in to have a look around and another plane came along. It shot nine or ten rounds into the cliffs. It scared them and they jumped out of the plane and went out fishing. The Americans took the plane back to Argentia. That was my first experience with the war.