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Description
Mr. Ellis describes the general shortage of water at the front, and the consequences of drinking water contaminated by dead bodies.
Wilfred Dancy Ellis
Wilfred Dancy “Dick” Ellis was born in Surrey, England, on September 10,1895. Mr. Ellis emigrated to Canada in 1912, joining his parents who had left him in England to finish school. He became active in the local boys club and Home Guard, and finally enlisted in the 4th Division, Canadian Bicycle Battalion, because, in his words, he wanted to preserve his British heritage. This group, nicknamed the “Gas Pipe Cavalry”, was a highly mobile support battalion which could quickly move into reinforcing positions. The events described by Mr. Ellis took place at Vimy. In addition, he was wounded at Lieven on the Lens Front. After the war, Mr. Ellis wrote a Battalion history entitled, <em>Saga of the Cyclists in the Great War, 1914-1918</em>. He was employed with the Bank of Commerce for 48 years and involved with the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires. Mr. Ellis died, aged 100, on August 14, 1996, leaving behind his wife of 75 years, Gladys (nee Loram), and two children.
Transcript
The first day we arrived from (inaudible) up onto the Pimple at Souchez, we were billeted in these Nissen huts. And one of the chaps – there’s some pictures in there – Gordon Hoskin was in my platoon and he wanted a drink of water. So, he went out and another chap and I were sitting talking and we were chatting around there for about an hour and Gordon didn’t come back. So, we thought we’d better go and look for him. So we went down the road and he’d been looking for the water wagon that is usually attached to a unit of some kind. When there are a number of men around it, there is always a field kitchen and water tanks and so on, but there was no sign of any field kitchen or water tank in our neighbourhood at that time. And there was... we walked down the road about, oh, I suppose half a mile and there was Gordon laying on his stomach beside a shell hole, just sick as a dog. And I said, “Gordon what happened? ” He says, “I took a drink out of this shell hole. I was just dying with thirst.” He says, “Look!” There was a German boot with a foot still in it, with a leg still in it, and it made him sick in the stomach. It just gives you an idea of some of the rotten things that happened.