Description
Mr. Huckerby describes advancing on the Germans, taking prisoners and securing a German machine gun position. He also discusses the vulnerability he felt there.
John Arthur Huckerby
John Arthur Huckerby was born on February 8, 1898, in Golden Plain, North West Territory, (now a part of Saskatchewan). Prior to enlistment, Mr. Huckerby worked as a farm laborer. His sense of patriotic duty led him to enlist in the 217th Battalion at Broadview, Saskatchewan, on March 8, 1916, shortly after his 18th birthday. Mr. Huckerby’s basic training was interrupted when he fell ill with diphtheria. Although not fully recovered when the 217th was deployed to Britain, his officer interceded and took him as a convalescent. He was quarantined at Bramshott Camp for a time and then served as an instructor in bayonet drill and physical training. Mr. Huckerby joined the 46th Battalion, C Company and saw action at Lens, Amiens, Drocourt-Queant, and Canal du Nord. Although there is no record of his having been wounded, he was gassed during a night raid at Lens. He was discharged at the rank of corporal. After returning to Canada, he received a farm from the Soldier Settlement Board and later joined the Saskatchewan Civil Service. Mr. Huckerby enlisted for the Second World War, attaining the rank of sergeant. There is, at present, no record of his service in that conflict. On January 12, 1921, he married Katherine Anne MacDougall and had one son. Mr. Huckerby died on September 16, 1993.
Transcript
We hadn’t been driven back, but the wave ahead of us was driven back through us and we advanced and took over the offensive. The first, the first thing I can remember about that, on that offensive was that I came to a dugout and I called down for whoever was in there to come out. And there was twenty some odd Germans came out of there with their hands up and I turned them over to headquarters. And in the meantime, there had been quite a number of fellows try to advance to this post out in front for a covering, you know, to keep the enemy back and there was quite a few of them had been hit. And this one little fellow, Jimmy Fiddler by name, him and I decided we would try it undercover from the rest of our platoon and they kept the fire up so we could advance and maybe run five yards at a time and flop again, one after the other, one going ahead of the other, until we got to the post and then took it. We were isolated there for twenty four hours. Nobody ever got near us. We took over a mounted R-gun there. We were stuck there to protect the people behind us. There was a lot of artillery fire there. And I didn’t see it myself, but just a little ways ahead of us where the enemy had their artillery line, they even had their gunners chained to the gun so they couldn’t get away on them. Some of them were burned there. I saw the results of it when we went through the next day.