Description
>Mr. Clemett describes events on and immediately following the day the war ended.
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
The front lines were joined up at certain points that were rough and ready and well protected and anybody that had to go to the front and were on their way to the front you felt that you were losing the line like they might call for any given number of men from certain areas, say from certain units that they'd been with before and they could afford to take those men out of that unit and put them in the other unit that they wanted them in right away. Like each unit . . . the unit that I was in, in England, the Forestry Corp, there was 20 men withdrawn and I was lucky enough as I thought. And actually it turned out that I was lucky to get in and stay with them. The Forestry Corps people don't know anything about it. It's just to them it's just a small one a small sawmill operating supplying lumber, timber and everything for the front line and where it was ever used in lines. And it was a very important factor in their operations because they were operating almost day and night. No I won't say they were at night, no, but eight hours a day they were operating, sawing and sawing and sawing some of the best oak and timber in that area in France.