You seldom saw a shattered cemetery.

Heroes Remember

You seldom saw a shattered cemetery.

Transcript

When you go into France, when you go, you are sent over to France, you start very close to where you landed, do you know what I mean? And then you’re gradually sent ... We went through like on the Somme, went on the Somme and I remember distinctly going through. It slips my mind, where the leaning tower, the Virgin Mary was. Did you hear about on the church, and the bar was going through it? Well, it was drawn to my attention. All the young guys, they’d sense and they pointed to it right away. And what makes me think about it, around that time when we were going past way and through each way till you get to the front line. I remember in Albert, for instance, we were stayed there overnight. It was all shattered, all shell shocked and shattered. And of course, the statue was leaning, one thing and another. And then at that particular time, we were going to …we had to camp out. We had no shelter. So I said to the boys in a jocular manner, really, “Well, I’m going to sleep in the cemetery. That’s the safest place around here.” Taking, for instance, that it was the safest place because when you looked at the, as we saw the, for instance, but when you looked at cemeteries along the way, you noticed, particularly, you very seldom saw a shattered cemetery. However, I just went in there, laid down between what I could that’s comfortable. And some of the boys then got enough nerve to come in, too. We spent the night there and then, of course, carried on the next day. But we marched all the way up. We weren’t taken by transport. We marched all up right until we got to the front line. ‘Cause you go in the third line, then the guys would go up until they get to the front line.

Description

Mr. Savage describes some divine inspiration in locating a safe place to sleep.

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:: 2:19
Person Interviewed:: Septimus Savage
War, Conflict or Mission:: First World War
Location/Theatre:: Europe
Battle/Campaign:: Somme
Branch:: Army
Units/Ship:: 10th Yorkshire Regiment
Occupation:: Infantryman

Language selection

You seldom saw a shattered cemetery.

Heroes Remember