Camouflage lessons came in handy

Heroes Remember

Camouflage lessons came in handy

Transcript

I am very sentimental with those things, you know. It does bother me, you know, it did bother me. It still bothers me and that is, but uh... There was, it’s pretty hard to say, sometimes you think, well, that’s water gone under the bridge, you know. As far as I’m concerned, I always liked watching the armistice. I get, I get that and I do spend some kind of sad moments listening to the, what goes on in there, you know. And I do, when I look at those chaps marching along there, well I was one of those. You know what I mean, it all comes back to you. I had one episode just as the war was over. So the troops begin to come back from overseas, and in the armouries in Calgary, I was in there when the batch came back from overseas, and they came. I was, my job was discharging them, see. And I was standing there and it was cold, cold. It was in the drill halls, and this young guy came up to me and said, “Sir,” he says, “can I talk to you?” I said, “Sure, go ahead.” “Well,” he says, “I owe you.” How the heck did he put it now? It was a case of what I taught him in there. He says, “I’m here today and I listened to what you taught me,” he says, “I’m here today.” And he is still a young lad, that bothered me. And that was… I said, “Well, how so?” “Well,” he said, “It’s in regard to camouflage.” He said, “You told me in lectures and that, you told me what to do in the case of having to camouflage ourselves quick. If I hadn’t have done that,” he said, “What you told me, I wouldn’t have been here today.” And I thought it was nice to come and tell me about it.

Description

Mr. Savage reminisces about his First World War experience and his encounter with a Second World War returnee whom he had trained for battle.

Septimus Savage

Septimus Savage was born in East Hartley, England on October 8, 1898. He was the youngest of seven sons. Mr. Savage left school at age fifteen. All of his brothers had enlisted and he felt pressured to do the same. Being too young for active service, he attempted to join his local army canteen committee in 1914, at the age of sixteen. Eventually, he joined the Young Soldiers Battalion in Staffordshire, England. Once old enough, he joined the 10th Yorkshire Battalion, with whom he served in Europe. Mr. Savage fought in the battle at the Somme and was later wounded at Albert. After the war, he immigrated to Canada, first working as a railroad section man and then as a dairy farmer near Edmonton. When the Second World War began, he mobilized with the 19th Alberta Dragoons as a recruit trainer at Camrose, Alberta. He held the highest non-commissioned rank of Regimental Sergeant Major, and later received his Captain’s commission. Mr. Savage married Edith Stanton in England on January 24th, 1920 and had one daughter. At the time of his interview, Mr. Savage was living in Sardis, British Columbia. He died June 17th, 2001.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 2:26
Person Interviewed:: Septimus Savage
War, Conflict or Mission:: First World War
Location/Theatre:: Europe
Branch:: Army
Units/Ship:: 10th Yorkshire Regiment
Occupation:: Infantryman

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Camouflage lessons came in handy

Heroes Remember