Rum surplus
The Battle of Passchendaele
Rum surplus
Transcript
Just while Passchendaele was on and we were supposed to do
Hill 62 Memorial Belgium.
anti-aircraft work. If an airplane came over, a German airplane came over, we were supposed to shoot him down or shoot at him orCourtrai Memorial Belgium.
chase him away, or do something or other. However, it seemed that these men with these batteries, they got surplus issues of rum.Le Quesnel Memorial Belgium.
Well, to get our rum ration and our food and whatnot, I had toGueudecourt Memorial France.
Dury Memorial France.
send a detail, a man, over to the battalion, to the battery headquarters and I’ll be doggoned if the battery man didn’t sendMonchy Memorial France.
the whole jug of SRD rum over with him and I had quite a timePasschendaele Memorial Belgium.
keeping my boys from getting so doggoned badly plastered,Masnières memorial France.
they were going to shoot all the airplanes in the sky whether there was any out there or not. Oh, there was the odd comicalBourion Wood Memorial France.
thing that happened, I suppose. The next thing was for me and my crew to find the battalion. They didn’t tell me exactly where toCourcelette Memorial France.
go and the military police were after us.Beaumont-Hamel Memorial France.
They thought that maybe we had deserted or something,St. Julien Memorial Belgium.
and I had quite a time saying, “Look here, I was left up there with a battery to do anti-aircraft work and all I’m trying to do now is find my battalion.”Canadian National Vimy Memorial France.
Eventually we found them and everything was all straightened outDescription
Mr. Smith describes the influence of too much rum on his gun crew, and a brush with the military police.
Meta Data
- Medium:
- Video
- Owner:
- Veterans Affairs Canada
- Duration:
- 1:38
- Person Interviewed:
- Allan A ‘Spike’ Smith
- War, Conflict or Mission:
- First World War
- Location/Theatre:
- Europe
- Battle/Campaign:
- Passchendaele
- Branch:
- Army
- Units/Ship:
- 196th Battalion
- Rank:
- Lance-Corporal
- Occupation:
- Infantryman
Attestation
- Date modified: