Dispatcher Duties. Weapons
Heroes Remember
Dispatcher Duties. Weapons
Transcript
Picture of six soldiers standing or on a fence.
Interviewer: You said you, you said you were on general staff or something. I was on headquarters staff Interviewer: Oh, Headquarters staff. Now how did that come about? Well, (you were still a private were you?) What? (You were still a private?) I was still a private, but there was two of us privates and one Lieutenant. Lieutenant Joyce was of the New Zealanders. George Aitken, a private of the New Zealanders and myself, a private of the Queenslanders. You see, there was a representative of each, each crowd. Interviewer: Now, what were you duties? Well, we was on headquarters staff to take a message if... to wherever you were sent, if there was a dispatch to go youSoldier holding his rifle on horseback.
had to go. Interviewer: So you were a dispatcher? Yeah well, they called it a dispatcher. (Okay.) And I've got a picture in the house there of where I landed at Dundee. Interviewer: I'd like to see that if I could. Well, I'll show it you. Interviewer: Now there's lots of things that I want to ask you.. Did you ever meet any Canadians there? No, I never met a Canadian to know it. Not a Canadian, No we were never mixed with the Canadians. (New Zealanders?) um! (New Zealanders?) New Zealanders part of our, our body. (Oh, I see) Yeah the New Zealanders, the New Zealanders and the Queenslanders and the,...Soldier posing with rifle slung.
the Eastlank regiment, part of the Dublin Fusiliers and some of the Black Watch. Interviewer: That's, that's not the Canadian Black Watch that's the? No, no, that's the Black Watch of the old country (right) and the Dublin Fusileers was the old country. They were all infantry, they, they walked. Interviewer: Now, what was, okay, Did, did you come into any contact with artillery men? What was the British artillery like? Was it good? Well, our artillery was just the same as the British artillery. Interviewer: What kind of guns were you using? We were using,... the.. they did, they did have use of the naval gun it was a 4.7, but it was so cumbersome you couldn'tPicture of man standing and woman sitting holding flowers.
take it up on a mountain or up on a plateau, or anywheres. You took all the bullocks and creations to handle it was an immense gun, but we had a 15 pounder we had a 7 pounder with us, and a pompom, and the howitzer and the maxim and the ah... the ah... I don't know there was another one it was kind a maxim that you put on, on a mule. They disassembled, you know took it apart and put it on a mules so you could go up unto a copier or anyplaceThree Veterans standing in front of war memorial.
onto a high altitude. Yeah see, I've got it on the end of me tongue (not a howitzer or anything) what (a howitzer). Howitzer, howitzer is a heavy gun, that's a heavy gun. No, no it's, it's on the end of me tongue. (Maybe it will come back later) Interviewer: What about the infantry mans weapon, what kind of rifle did you carry? Well, just the same as us, the same as us we carried the rifle with the bayonet. Interviewer: What kind of rifle was it, was it a? It was a 303 (was it a Ross, no, that's a Canadian gun) No, no it was a 303, a British rifle. (Enfield) yeah, Lee Enfield, (right, right) yeah (and the Boers were using MauseBoer War Veteran talking with current service men.
right?) The Boers were using Mausers, and they were using the old, the old...the old... it fired a big bullet there like a bumblebee going by I can remember it by and by, but, (Well, okay) anyway they, they used shotguns and they use a Mauser and they use this here ah... come to me every once in awhile, but I can think (well maybe it will come to you later)Boer War Veteran sitting on a chair, holding a document.
Interviewer: What about automatic weapons like machine guns, were they coming into use, ah into prominent use? Well, a revolver, a revolver was a kind of an automatic takes,... six, six, six, cartridges. I've got one down in the cellar that I got there. And the, the a Maxim was an automatic that would fire, I don't know five or six hundred rounds in a minute (a minute) and then there was a pompom. It would fire, well not as many as that, but it would, it would be fire. I just forget how many rounds a minute it would fire, but that pompom it would go pom pom pom pom pom pom,Picture of six soldiers standing or on a fence.
all's they had to do, was just sit right there and hold the trigger and just, just change there gun right there, same as they would with a Maxim. That had a water jacket on it. The pompon had a water jacket just the same as the Maxim and ah, that was about the only automatic weapon we had. Interviewer: One thing that I wanted to ask you, The Boer War is often considered one of, one of the first really modern Wars, in a lot of senses, because, well, the first uses of a.. machine guns to a great extent. (Yeah.) And this sort of thing. What about trenches? (Well) Any trench warfare (yes) Like in the first World War? No, no, no, no... no, they didn't have time to make a trench, they, they'd dig a place that went along now, but um,Soldier holding his rifle on horseback.
Paardeberg they did have a trench. I saw the trenches, where they was insulated, you know, where they, from the river there was trenches that they utilised, but, the Boers got end on, that was called, what they called insulated Ya know, they fired up the trench, on, they done a lot of damage that way, there was quite a lot. But there wasn't really as many killed in Paardeberg as you'd think for the number of troops that was there. Interviewer: Now how many troops were there in the entire British contingent? (Oh) In the first two years of the war? (With the whole thing?) With the whole shebang, how many troops do you think there were? Oh no, I wouldn't know, I, I wouldn't know, but, but, But there were (10 to 15 thousand) Ohhh, must of hadSoldier posing with rifle slung.
(Montgomery here says there were never more then 10 thousand troops Allied troops, more, more, at once). Not in the Boer War (yeah) Oh there must have been more than that There's French, there was French, there was (there were Frenchman there! ) No there was French, General French, (Oh, I see) General French, and there was White, and there was White and there was Garret and there was Colonel White and Colonel Tombring, and Colonel Porter and oh, I could name quite a number. Oh, know they must have had more then, oh, the must of have had near 50 or 60 thousand, more.Picture of man standing and woman sitting holding flowers.
But to handle, handle a thing like that. Oh God, they couldn't handle it couldn't begin to handle it.Description
Mr. Weaver talks about his duties as a dispatcher and the different weapons used during the war.
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:
- 08:25
- Person Interviewed:
- Frank Weaver
- War, Conflict or Mission:
- South African War
- Branch:
- Army
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