On 20 July 1943, the advance was temporarily held up along a line just north of Valquarnera. Two important bridges [were] at Map Reference 3582 in between the two opposing positions. If these bridges were demolished it would have delayed our subsequent advance by several hours as equipment was not immediately available. Sergeant Brooks [Royal Canadian Engineers] volunteered to make a personal reconnaissance of the bridges to see if they had been prepared for demolition and if so to remove the charges. He crept forward along the dry stream bed being subjected to mortar and machine gun fire; made an inspection of both bridges and returned safely with his report.