Deadly 'Whiz-Bangs'

Heroes Remember

Deadly 'Whiz-Bangs'

Transcript

We were under shell fire most of the time, whizbangs going over us in the trenches, you know. It would be right on the line and you'd hear, "Whiz, Bang!" and you were up against that. You never knew what minute it was going to land right alongside of you or in your funk hole. I think there was times you were terrified, terrified, especially if a shell lit close to you, half buried you in the trench. As they were, they were running mud, running mud in the trenches, in a lot of those places it was terrible. And as we were advancing a lot of the boys would get it. I remember a very good friend of mine, he was in the trench about here, we went to lift him out and he came in half so that's one thing I'll never forget.

Description

Mr. Routhier describes the psychological impact of being shelled by 'whiz-bangs', a type of German artillery shell. He describes the death of a friend struck by such a shell.

Harry Routhier

The third of five children, Harry Routhier was born in Chesley, Ontario on December 6, 1899. His father was a railroad engineer, and his grandfather has the distinction of having written the lyrics for “ O Canada”. Mr. Routhier's family moved to British Columbia, and lying about his age, enlisted in the 217th Battalion at Camp Hughes, Manitoba. Prior to deploying overseas, he trained in St. John, New Brunswick. Although Mr. Routhier's narrative centers on Amiens, his experiences there are typical of many of the battles which occurred during the First World War.

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