They’d break your leg
First World War Audio Archive
They’d break your leg
Transcript
Horse and carriage.
In some places like Canal du Nord had a lot of water in it. And they used pontoon bridges for us to cross on it. If you wanted a thrill you want to drive a team of mules over them. Where each mule is... you see riding one mule and drive the other on these limbers. And each mule would be crowding away from the outside of this pontoon bridge you know. They didn’t want to get too close to the edge. And you had to get your foot up on top of the pole otherwise they’d break your leg, crushing it. But they were just laid shortly before we went over, and then when we were over they - I don’t know how they rolled them up or what they did with them but they took them on again, to another place. That Canal du Nord, it wasn’t straight. We crossed it different times. I don’t know how many times we crossed the Canal du Nord. But it was always the same thing, we had these pontoon bridges laid for us. Now those fellas driving those lorries, they were to be commended in many ways. You take and drive a big truck at night without lights, not knowing what you are going to come up against -- might be a hole in the road, might be a mine in the road. For them to do the job that they did, I think they did a magnificent job, and ITwo soldiers posing for a picture.
thought so at the time too. I wouldn’t have traded places with any of them. Some said they’d wished they had one of those motor lorries to drive. I said, “Not me, not without lights or anything at night, and not knowing where the heck you were going."Description
Mr. Gleason discusses the challenges of moving supplies, in particular moving mule teams over pontoon bridges, and driving trucks at night in total blackout conditions.
Patrick William Gleason
Patrick William Gleason was born in North Dakota, USA, on October 31, 1897. His family moved to Yorkton, Saskatchewan in 1907. Mr. Gleason was a student in Yorkton prior to his enlistment in the 196th Regiment. He was accepted for duty on May 10, 1916, at Brandon, Manitoba, and arrived in France in early 1917 in preparation for the Battle of Vimy Ridge. Mr. Gleason was wounded in the thigh by machine gun fire at Vimy on April 12, 1917. After returning to active duty in France, he spent the remainder of the war hauling munitions to the front lines, and survived a shell explosion and two gas attacks at Amiens. Mr. Gleason was discharged, rank of private, on June 10, 1919. After the war, he farmed for a few years, then taught at several country schools until 1930 when economic and agricultural conditions left the school board with too little money to pay a teacher’s salary. Mr. Gleason then returned to farming in the Yorkton area, and was also employed as postmaster in his hometown of Tonkin from 1950 until he retired in 1973. He was instrumental in organizing sports activities in his community, as well as a Credit Union of which he was secretary treasurer for a number of years. During the 1940s and 1950s, he was also secretary treasurer of the local school board, president of the Saskatchewan Trustees Association, and president of the Saskatchewan Liberal Party. Mr. Gleason married Marion Cecilia Robinson in 1925 and had eight children. He died of cancer on June 21, 1978, and is buried in Yorkton.
Meta Data
- Medium:
- Video
- Owner:
- Veterans Affairs Canada
- Duration:
- 1:51
- Person Interviewed:
- Patrick William Gleason
- War, Conflict or Mission:
- First World War
- Location/Theatre:
- Europe
- Battle/Campaign:
- Canal du Nord
- Branch:
- Army
- Units/Ship:
- 196th Saskatchewan Regiment
- Rank:
- Private
- Occupation:
- Infantryman
Attestation
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