It knocked us over
Mr. Turner describes two incidents where his battery was shelled, the first with no injuries, the second with tragic consequences.
Brenton Harold Turner
First name
Brenton Harold
Last name
Turner
Gender
M
City
O’Leary
Province
Prince Edward Island
Biography
Brenton Harold (Jack) Turner was born in O’Leary, Prince Edward Island on September 24, 1889. His father was a general merchant, and he worked in the family business. Mr. Turner enlisted in Charlottetown on September 25, 1915. He sailed to England aboard the Lapland, arriving in December, 1915. He trained in Horsham, and then went into action as a Corporal in the 2nd Canadian Siege Battalion, arriving in France in May, 1916. Mr. Turner saw action at the Somme, Vimy and Passchendaele. Despite orders to turn in all cameras, Mr. Turner smuggled a German-built 2" x 3" format camera in his clothes behind the front lines and took approximately 100 photographs from the war zone. After the war, he returned to Canada aboard the Mauritania, married, and became a farmer. Mr. Turner died on October 6, 1989.
People old ID
410
People Language
E
My steel helmet saved me
Mr. Turner describes the role of his pocket knife and helmet in saving his life.
You never know your luck
Mr. Turner discusses the fatalism that crept into the soldiers’ conversations, and gives a couple examples of predictions of death coming true
First leave
Mr. Turner describes his first leave in England and his trip to Edinburgh, a preferred location for Canadians on leave.