Description
Mr. Clemett discusses his pride in joining the army and being prepared to go to the front line.
Lloyd Clemett
Mr. Clemett was born December 10, 1899, in Toronto, Ontario. Both his parents passed away when he was quite young and he moved to Omemee, Ontario, to be with close relatives. He was the youngest of four brothers that served in the First World War and was a bugle boy when he enlisted in January 1916, at the age of 16. He joined the 93rd Battalion in Peterborough as a private but was soon transferred to the 109 Battalion in nearby Lindsay. By July 1916, he found himself in England and a year later was stationed in Aubin St. Vast, France, working with the Canadian Forestry Corps. He stayed with the Forestry Corps until 1918, when he volunteered for duty on the front lines, however, the armistice was signed before he ever saw action on the front. Upon his return to Canada Mr. Clemett took advantage of courses offered by the army to help him obtain employment as a railway agent. He lost that job during the Depression and went to work for the old village of Leaside (now part of Toronto) and remained there until his retirement. At the time of this interview Mr. Clemett was 106 years old and one of only three remaining First World War Veterans in Canada.
Transcript
About the best thing that I could think about, it would be some service in the army. It gives them a good idea of travel in many cases. And their right up . . . they held right up (inaudible) and they learned how to do a lot of things, that they didn't do before. That's about the size of it. Through it all, a lot of it was very good, the training that you would get in the army and that's about, doesn't stipulate how long it would be, about a year or two years that would be a good service, a good year put in. And any young fella around 17 ½ -18 passed the regulations, it would be okay for them at least I think. Perhaps a lot of them don't see it that way after they join, but the present situation is more suitable to them than sitting around at home and doing nothing. The main thing is they are now occupied before they were not and they're a paying, paying citizens now and before they were not paying because they weren't working. So that's a few of the things that would be to their advantage. If they can't get that job, can't find work, try and get into the army.