Boers Marksmen. Transportation.

Heroes Remember

Boers Marksmen. Transportation.

Transcript

Picture of six soldiers standing or on a fence.

And we, we landed up there and then we was put into action. And the first action, by gosh, look Mr. Man, we was chasing some Boers and Boers, the Boers took a stand on a slope. There was a lot of old brush and small trees on this slope, and boys if the lead didn't fly now, and I am going to tell you if you could get your head behind a blade of grass you'd get it behind. Interviewer: Now one of the things that Montgomery says in his book about the Boers was that they were fantastic marksmen. If you showed an elbow they'd shoot it off. Is that right? I'm telling you something. I could tell you something a little later. But anyway we were out there at Krondstadt, outside Krondstadt and we were chasing the Boers. Whether they were chasing us we don't know, but we were chasing them anyway,

Soldier holding his rifle on horseback.

but they cut us off. There was um Tom Sharkey and Rube Redded and Jimmy Grimstan and um Tom McCormick and, and then there was Tom Redded the brother of Rube. Well we were cut off and be gosh we couldn't get by, so Tom Sharkey, he had a red beard, you know and boys he was a rough rugged looking fella. And we says to Tom, "Now if you'll go and connect us up with the main body, we'll cover ya if ya go." So (inaudible) says "Alright." So Tom went, and by golly it was not long before they, we couldn't

Soldier posing with rifle slung.

cover him any longer and by gosh the Boers captured him. Stripped every gaul darn thing off and let him go and started him off back to his unit. Well, Tom got back there, you could never get that fella in action again. But however, but however, to cut a long story short, we were still up on this little knoll, this little copy they call it there and I says to Jimmy, Jimmy Grimstan, I says, "Jimmy," I says, "Open a tin of jam" I says and I says, "and give us a few biscuits." I says "We want something to eat." And so he opened the tin of jam and there was a tin of jam between five of us and uh between four and uh he opened the

Picture of man standing and woman sitting holding flowers.

tin of jam and we had these little biscuits. Now I says, I says, "You stick that tin right up on the end of your rifle and draw the fire." So by golly Jimmy Grimstan he put this tin up and it shone in the sunlight, you know, and they pinged that right off the gaul darn rifle. Interviewer: How far away were they? Oh, I don't know how far they was away, but anyway they was over five hundred yards away because we could see everything (That's incredible) out there in that distance we don't know where. (Gee them must have been good shots.)

Three Veterans standing in front of war memorial.

Shots! Look I tell you one, one little instance Colonel White, the old Gemisin raid came, we were camped on a, on a little copy let me see that was, I think that was outside Coalsburg, I wouldn't say for sure, just, but anyway the blass buck and the spring buck come through the column, there race through the column, must of been hundreds of 'em. That's the blass buck and the spring buck, that's an antelope a deer. You know what that is Well, they come in (inaudible) well they went right through the column. Harry White said to one of the guides, the Boer

Boer War Veteran talking with current service men.

guides, we had Boer guides you know, to guide us, well through the place, they were paid but, and a Harry White said to one of the guides, "Lend us your rifle," and then blass buck was going on a lickety click and he picked, there was a leader, there was one leader, and ole Harry White, we used to call him Ole Molly White, we use to sing out, "Ole Molly Reilly, I love you." Do ya know that song? The troops use to sing that to him. Interviewer: Do you still remember that song? (Huh?) Do you still remember that song? Yes! Interviewer: Will you sing it for me? Ole Molly Reilly I love you, what you know I can't, I can't think

Boer War Veteran sitting on a chair, holding a document.

of it all. But anyway, but anyway, Harry White, he picks up the rifle it was loaded and he put on his aperture sight. Do you know what an aperture sight is? Interviewer: That's an elevation sight, is it? That's an elevation with a disc on the side of the rifle (Right) And he pointed that, that there, that there blass buck (inaudible) and that thing went right up in the air. Great big fire. Whether he frightened it or whether it fell, we don't know, but he was pretty handy to it when it made a leap into the air. And another time he took a shot at some, some (inaudible) going with the pails some pails of water from the, from the

Picture of six soldiers standing or on a fence.

sprout, the little brook, and boys he shot there and they dropped the pails and they run for dear life, he didn't hit any of them, of course, but, but it scared them. But them were, them were the incidents we had... when we was travelling from, we was on a night march. Interviewer: Now you better explain how you travelled. Did you make use of wagons, and horses, and everything? We was riding all the time, day and night. Interviewer: Who, who was the better horseman, you or the Boers? The Boers were suppose to (well) be fantastic horsemen? Well, by gosh I'm going to tell you if they could stand some of the buckjumpers we use to ride in Queensland, now, they got (inaudible).

Soldier holding his rifle on horseback.

Interviewer: So you were the better horseman? I used to ride many a buckjumper over there. Interviewer: One thing that I have been wondering, was that over there, since there were some many horses being used how come, well, there weren't any cattle recharges. When you, you used horses for transportation and you got there and you got off your horses, fought on foot, right? They didn't use no horses for transportation. They used mules, they were all mules. No horses for transportation, they were all in, they were all, all mounted. Interviewer: But you fought on foot? They used horses for the guns, they used horses for the guns, but not, not for the transportation, the baggage wagons and the supply wagons and the likes of that. Interviewer: Were there any cavalry units? Yes, the cavalry, them was all British troops.

Soldier posing with rifle slung.

Interviewer: I was going to say, were there any great cavalry charges? Oh yes, yes there was quite a few, there was one or two at Ladysmith and there was one at Marteking and there was one at Biggerscop and oh there was several charges. There was several pretty, we wasn't, we wasn't in anything like that. Although we met the charge copies, you know, pardon me, we met the charge copies when we we've been ordered to take a position. Well, sometimes you could only go part of the way up that, when you turn your horse over to a horse holder. Well number three in your squadron, the squadron was about a hundred men, and every, every fourth man was, the third man of the four that's a group was a horseholder. So it, when you

Picture of man standing and woman sitting holding flowers.

took, was ordered on a position the horses couldn't take it, well you handover your horses to number three the rest of them go on. And the fella with the four horses he goes to cover, or if he can get any, or take them somewhere out of range or if he can get out of range. It all depends, you can't tell and ah, they do the best they can, and if you come back you get your horse and if you don't come back you don't want it. your first engagement, how did you feel? Well by gosh, it didn't feel to good, I'm going to tell you that.

Three Veterans standing in front of war memorial.

Interviewer: You must have seen some pretty grim sights! Well... (You lost some friends) What? Interviewer: Did you lose some friends? No, we never lost, we lost I think one horse, one horse, that's all we lost, but we, we, we the stuffing was scared right out of us. By gosh, I'm going to tell you, you get into a place and you get, you don't know how many fellas there and you get the old bullets go ping, zip, zip, zip zip, ping. I'm going to tell you... (You sweat) What? (You sweat) No, you don't sweat! You try and find a place to stick your head! Interviewer: You weren't going to wipe them off the face of face of the earth anymore. No, siree. Well, I tell you one time I was on picket, I was on picket, I never had to do much of that because I was on eight

Boer War Veteran talking with current service men.

quarter staff. I was on picket this night and the, the officer on the, on the going around you know the officer on the rounds, around the picket to see everybody was a sleeping... (Yep, orderly officer, yep) There, there, what did you say? (Orderly officer) Yep, well we didn't call them that but, this officer went around anyway, to see that everybody wasn't sleeping. Well you know, the fella just took my place on guard to walk up and down, walk up and down. Well, and I layed down with the other two fellas, I lay down there and I got me rifle and I

Boer War Veteran sitting on a chair, holding a document.

levelled it right along there, and by gosh I seen a blade of grass and it was moving. I didn't know it was a blade of grass then and I was looking at it, but between the skyline, between the skyline and me the light shone on this blade of grass and that gawl darn thing seemed to be coming closer to me all the time. And ah, it seemed to be comer closer and I got this thing, my gosh, I am going to fire now out. I don't want to wake the camp. Ya see. So, I said, "If you come any closer, by golly I am going to let you have it." And, the darn thing never got any closer but it kept on coming. Did you ever see anything like that

Picture of six soldiers standing or on a fence.

(I think so) Well, he kept on coming and by and by the other fella would come in and he had to be relieved by another fella and he went off, I say, "What in the name of God are you trying to do?" And I said, "Well," I said "if you see that fella he was trying to get up here." He says, "What fella?" That darn blade of grass, it was getting daylight you see (Oh yeah) and I'll never forget man. So there were lots of funny things. Interviewer: So, I suppose your first battle made you a real soldier? (What?) Interviewer: I suppose your first

Soldier holding his rifle on horseback.

battle made you a real soldier. Well, I don't know, I don't know, every, every time, every time you didn't feel at all at home, I tell ya. (Yeah) Well I don't know, every, every time you didn't feel at all at home. There was nothing that you felt to confident over.

Description

Mr. Weaver recalls the voyage from Australia to Durban Africa and how the Boers were great marksmen. He also talks about their means of transportation and his first battle.

Frank Weaver

Frank Weaver was born in England, April 7th, 1881 and moved to Canada following his service in the South African War. At the time of this interview Mr. Weaver was 97-years-old. This interview was recorded in Saint John, New Brunswick on August 13, 1971 as part of the Living History Project completed by students and faculty of Military and Strategic Studies, Department of History, University of New Brunswick. This interview is used with permission of the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick. Mr. Weaver's interview was taped outdoors. VAC apologizes for the sometimes poor audio quality of these clips.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 12:22
Person Interviewed:: Frank Weaver
War, Conflict or Mission:: South African War
Branch:: Army

Language selection

Boers Marksmen. Transportation.

Heroes Remember