Sealegs

First World War Audio Archive

Sealegs

Transcript

The first thing that struck us was the little short engines.

Image of Hill 62 Memorial Belgium.

One of the English engines, you know, and two or three of our

Courtrai Memorial Belgium.

fellas looked them over and one fellow said, “Boy,” I think it was Cook, “I’d like the replacement of that one,” he says,

Le Quesnel Memorial Belgium.

“and put one it on for a watch charm.” It was so small. Boy, but when they get on the train and they started to pull out, they’re gone, they were really nice engines. That was one thing

Gueudecourt Memorial France.

that struck us. When we got to camp down to Liphook, I remember

Dury Memorial France.

getting off there at the station and come out and we were lined up to march into camp. There was a great big chestnut tree,

Monchy Memorial France.

oh it must, branches was out on that thing, it must have been,

Passchendaele Memorial Belgium.

oh, 60 or 80 feet around. That’s the one from the (inaudible) and that’s where it turned out to be. That was one of the first thing things I noticed, because, of course, there’s no lights for you,

Masnières memorial France.

any light would be shone on the ground. We arrived in the dark and marched from Liphook into camp. And I never seen a road in my life that was waving so much. We still had sea legs when we got

Bourion Wood Memorial France.

to camp. And we was in there, there was, they hadn’t got any word

Courcelette Memorial France.

on us. We was there for three days before our regular rations started. In that length of time, I know Broadstock, and he took

Beaumont-Hamel Memorial France.

myself and another young fellow with him up to London. We were supposed to bring three men back, and we brought back 39,

St. Julien Memorial Belgium.

I believe it was. The fellas had to go out of camp for to get something to eat, anyway. They kept going, walked to London and all over the place. The Military police picked them up in London,

Canadian National Vimy Memorial France.

took them down to, I think it was the old Bailey, if I remember right, where we got them at.

Description

Mr. Young describes his trip to Camp Liphook and being assigned to help collect AWOL’s from London.

Percy Young

Percy Young was born in New Brunswick on September 13, 1896. At an early age he learned to shoot, driving nails with a .22 calibre rifle. Mr. Young later found employment with the Canadian Pacific Railway in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, the hub of western rail travel. Because there were 22 passenger trains a day in Moose Jaw, it was an active recruiting area. On September 15, 1915, Mr. Young, along with 14 friends, enlisted in the 46th Battalion. He took his basic training at Camp Sewell, Saskatchewan and qualified as a sniper. Currently, our information doesn’t indicate in which battles Mr. Young saw action, but he does describe the 46th Battalion being awarded the Chocolate Stripe for its superiority in all aspects of field training. Mr. Young joined the Saskatchewan Security Corps during the Second World War and later became active in the Royal Canadian Legion.

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