Description
Mr. McLeod describes the fact that phone wire was vulnerable to shrapnel, and how teams of two would track down and repair any breaks in the wire.
Russell McLeod
Russell McLeod was born on October 9, 1899 in Liverpool, Nova Scotia. His father was a fisherman, and prior to his enlistment, they fished together. Mr. McLeod joined the 219th Battalion in 1916 and trained at Camp Aldershot, Nova Scotia. He was sent overseas that fall, and joined the 25th Battalion in France. He served during Canada's 'Last Hundred Days', seeing action at the Hindenburg Line, Cambrai and Mons. After the armistice, he served as a member of the Occupation Army in Germany.
Transcript
And all the shrapnel would go down there amongst them lines and tear them all to pieces and you had to fix the whole thing up, put pieces in. You’d have to get... two of you woould have to go out and run the line until you found a break, you keep trying headquarters, you keep trying headquarters until you come into, when you come away from him you knew the break was in there, so that was it. Man it was cold, if it was thunderstorms or anything it didn’t make any difference - rain, everything, you just had to take this in.