My great coat never dried the whole time I was there.

Heroes Remember

My great coat never dried the whole time I was there.

Transcript

I don’t remember too much about it, because as I said, being the freshly up the line, we were more curious than anything. And we did all the things we were supposed to, keep your head down and all this kind of stuff, you know. We did all those things, but we were in those trenches for quite a long time. I don’t remember having to go over the top… only once, while we were at that particular place. But then again, it was just a matter of going over and into the next trench, which was, for you see, it was a German trench. And then we stayed in there for a while then. I know that we had a long, long time, a long, long time there in that particular area which was the Somme. We were a long, long time in there, we were quite some time in there. There were different, there were different trenches, of course. I can recall I was put on guard in a trench, which was a, what do you call the shape now, the shape, the shape of the trenches - not straight, but zigzag. I remember, at one time, I was put on guard in the front line. Well now, it wouldn’t be the front line, it would be the behind. I had to travel up and down those, I think, about fifty yards. I had to cover between point A to point B, until I met the other three. We were short of manpower, you see, so they had to scatter them out. And that was about the distance between two ways to the next one. And you met him and reported to him and went back and he reported to the other. And that kept up all night until your two hours routine was done and then you went back to the other trench. I was wet most of the time. As far as that’s concerned, my heavy great coat never got dry at all, all the time I was there. We slept right in the trench, anywhere in the trench There was no protection except the trench itself. We used to go about every two weeks. They’d take us in behind the lines to get what they called deloused. And they’d come back and you put on a nice clean shirt. And you got back to the trench and when you, when you got up the next morning or in the middle of the night, all of a sudden you started. They’d come right back. As soon as they warmed up they come out again. I don’t know how they didn’t kill them, you know. Yeah, I remember that part of it.

Description

Mr. Savage describes being in the trenches for the first time, and some aspects of what life in the trenches was like.

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:: 3:03
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

My great coat never dried the whole time I was there.

Heroes Remember