Description
Mr. Routhier describes life in the trenches - the rats, lice and skunk holes.
Harry Routhier
Harry Routhier was born December 6, 1899 in Chelsea, Quebec. He is the third of five children. His father was a steam engineer and his grandfather served in Parliament and wrote the words to "O Canada". He attended school in Phoenix and Mission Junction, British Columbia. He worked on a farm in the Prairies, never finishing school. Lying about his age, Mr. Routhier joined the army at the age of sixteen. After his training in Regina, he joined the 217th Battalion and was later transferred to the 46th Battalion. Mr. Routhier was an active participant in the Battle of Amiens, France in August, 1918. After the war, he worked as a lumberjack, and later resided in Langley, British Columbia.
Transcript
Interviewer: What was your impression of the trenches that you were stationed in. What do you
remember about them?
God awful, God awful, don't like to talk about them. But it was shelter, you didn't dare stick your head up over the top of the trench either.
Interviewer: What do you remember about the rats that were in the area?
Oh yeah, bad, we had funk holes, what you called funk holes, places where you flopped when you're so tired, in the banks, you know, and rats. If you fell asleep, the rats would be running over the top of you, lice crawling all over you. But the lice never bothered me, never did, they would be up over the back of my neck, I'd get them on the back of my neck. They never stayed with me, never liked me. And they'd head to the head to get away, I'll always remember that.