Mr. MacKay describes his unusual trip to join the 46th Battalion, and some strange music to accompany his first meal with his unit.
Signal Stations
Mr. MacKay describes being selected from a pool of signalmen to join the 46th Battalion, and then describes his responsibilities during an infantry advance.
Continental code
Mr. MacKay describes his personal difficulty learning to key Morse Code, and compares the Continental to the faster American code.
Sniper school
Mr. MacKay describes a couple of the more difficult target drills faced by hopefuls in the sniper school at Bramshott.
That damn old Ross rifle
Mr. Bourne describes the camps he was in in Southern England, Bramshott and Shorncliffe, where he learned to shoot using the Ross rifle.
Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit!
Mr. MacKay describes the segregation camp in which he was quarantined before being sent to Bramshott.
Bleeding badly
Mr. MacKay describes the loss of his friend, who’d been struck in the thigh by shrapnel and bled to death despite efforts to tourniquet the wound.
They’ll eat up your food
Mr. MacKay describes two situations which offer opposing views about how to deal with German prisoners.
Intuition
Mr. Stevenson describes how his corporal’s instinct saved their lives during a barrage, and burying the dead in shell holes as part of a burial party.
The trenches half caved in
Mr. Stevenson describes trying to move around in mud caused by heavy rain collapsing the trenches, and being issued hip waders so he could man his Lewis gun position.
Heavy barrage
Mr. Stevenson describes joining the 46th Battalion just after Passchendaele, and then seeing action on the Oppy Front as a Lewis gunner. He describes in detail an Allied shelling strategy called a box barrage.
Don't shoot
Mr. Stevenson describes assault tactics and the events surrounding his being wounded at his advance machine gun post.