Division Transfer Request

Well we were posted to several stations in great Britain, and we were to form the 5th Canadian Division. And we went to Whitney Camp and we went to Bramshott, and various other camps and trained for even years before we got overseas. Our ultimate desire, of course, was to get the lines, which we did eventually. I had to transfer to the wireless section, to get a posting overseas in France. Interviewer: Now what would you do in a wireless section? The wireless section was something that was quite necessary in advancing troops. In laying lines they were subject to shell fire and breakage whereas we could communicate through the ground with the wireless and also through the air. I was particularly trained for wireless through the air and manned a wireless truck which came into great use in the open warfare after August the 8th, 1918. And that was where I spent most of my time, in the wireless section.

Mr. Spear requested a transfer to a wireless section of the 5th Canadian Division in order to gain a posting to the front line trenches.

Thomas Spear

Thomas Spear was born on October 22, 1896 in Alberta. His father was Reverend David Spear, a pioneer missionary in the Northwest Territories. As a youngster, Thomas often accompanied his father travelling in winter by horse and sleigh. When the First World War started, Mr. Spear was living in Emerson, Manitoba working for the Canadian Pacific Railroad as a telegraph operator. In January 1916 he enlisted in the Canadian Signal Corps and in April of that year sailed aboard The Baltic to England. Before heading to the battlefields of France, Mr. Spear was given additional training. One of the things he had to learn was the Continental Code or semaphore, which had a number of different characters from Morse Code. Mr. Spear was one of the first to learn wireless communication and eventually manned a wireless truck near the front.