Head for the dressing station

First World War Audio Archive

Head for the dressing station

Transcript

Two snipers went and led, like we went up the front about a

Hill 62 Memorial Belgium.

hundred yards behind the tanks. Well, our tank got put out of action. We went sideways in one of these long communication trenches and we got sideways, neither one of them could catch. Interviewer: With his tracks you mean? Traction, yeah. So they put the yellow flag up, that’s out of action. So we got trained for all of this, you see. We knew what

Courtrai Memorial Belgium.

the yellow flag was cause we’ve gone through it. And I said, “Let’s carry on,” and a fellow says, “I’m not going.” I said, “I oughta shoot ya, you son of a gun.” He says, “I’m not going.” So he laid there and they sent another guy up, a fellow named Tuke. He came up with me, we carried on, we captured about

Le Quesnel Memorial Belgium.

15 prisoners. All of them came out of a doggone dugout in a small little village, what was left of the village, you know. We captured these guys. It wasn’t long after that and he says, “Fall in so many men and take these men back, prisoners back,” you see. It wasn’t long after that we went ahead a little further

Gueudecourt Memorial France.

and there was a machine gun started up. And he says, “Jack, see if you can get that fellow.” That’s all I remember. I started to go across the road, I was crossing the road. A shell landed about I don’t know where from me. Went right through my tin hat and put that on there. So that’s the beauty of the tin hats.

Dury Memorial France.

It put a hole in my lid about so and I wanted to take, I carried that with me until I got down the line. When I got to the hospital, I lost everything, uniform, you lose everything because I was all covered in blood. I was three days from the time I got

Monchy Memorial France.

wounded before I got to the hospital, the main hospital. Gee, what a doggone trip that was. I walked about five miles back to this, and this dressing station rather, they’d come up right behind you know and put up a tent. He says, “You know the way we come?” I said, “I’ve got a good idea. But,” I said, “boy, have I got a headache.” Going back and here’s all these reserves all

Passchendaele Memorial Belgium.

coming up behind, you know and you’re going through the lines there. These fellas coming up. Everybody says, “You’ve got a blighty.” I says, “That’s some blighty, in the head.” But I got back to this dressing station, and I didn’t know that our captain

Masnières memorial France.

one of our captains had his kneecap blown off. Piece of a shell hit him and took his cap right off. He lost so much blood on that He died on the way down. He was in the horse ambulance that I got on. They says, “Are you able to sit up with the driver?” and I says, “Yes.” So away we start. Well, then we get,

Bourion Wood Memorial France.

oh several miles down we come to a little town. And here’s horses running all ways and here’s doggone enemy planes shooting in the bush. They knew the horses was in there, cavalry. Horses and men was running all night. We pulled up alongside of an old house. We got under the doggone ambulance and he was holding the lines

Courcelette Memorial France.

in. The team was jumping around then. It’s a wonder they didn’t get hit with the bullets. And we carried on and we got to the dressing station way down the line there. Well, we got down there and we got to a lorry, one of these big trucks you know. “Anybody that’s able to stand up get in the trucks.” I said,

Beaumont-Hamel Memorial France.

“I can stand up,” so I get in the truck. So we were put in there just standing in this doggone truck until we come to a train. And we come down to the station there and, by cripes, (inaudible) we got to Etaves, a big hospital. They picked me out of the line-up because I was blood, I had blood all over. It was

St. Julien Memorial Belgium.

just the way I got wounded. The nurse picked me out. It was definitely an American hospital, American nurse anyway. She took me out of the line up right up in front, right into the doggone doctor. And he started digging around with needles, you know,

Canadian National Vimy Memorial France.

getting at the shrapnel. What they did then, I don’t know. I guess I couldn’t stick it much longer. I must’ve passed out.

Description

Mr. Featherstone describes being wounded in the head by a bomb fragment, and his three day trip to the hospital in a horse ambulance and lorry.

John Stephen “Jack” Featherstone

John Stephen “Jack” Featherstone was born in Oxridge, England, on September 29, 1898. His mother was unable to care for him, so he emigrated to Wolsley, Saskatchewan, at the age of twelve. He was a farm labourer and enlisted March 1, 1916, but being committed to care for the local preacher’s farm, couldn’t report until fall. Mr. Featherstone arrived at Bramshott camp in England, where he was selected for the shooting team. He won a marksmanship competition at Aldershot in June, 1917, and joined the 46th Battalion in November 1917, following Passchendaele. Mr. Featherstone describes action at Vimy and Amiens. Following the war, he returned to farming until 1922, when he joined the Canadian Pacific Railway as a fireman. Forty years later, Mr. Featherstone retired as an engineer and resided in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.

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