Railway Battalion in France

Heroes Remember

Railway Battalion in France

Transcript

I got overseas, that would be the next thing and I was attached to the Royal Canadian Railway troops. The section of the rail, about 10 feet or so and they were loaded on a flat car, one on top of the other and then you just put them down, section by section, couple of bolts there on each one to tighten, but it was quite a thing because the number of shell holes was so great that it was hard to go very close to the front line.

Description

Mr. Martin briefly describes how the allies narrow gauge railway tracks were laid, and how numerous shell holes limited the range of the lines.

Cyril Martin

Cyril Martin was born on January 18, 1899 in Clapham, England. His father, a bricklayer, moved the family to Montreal in 1907, and later settled in Carlyle, Saskatchewan. Mr. Martin enlisted in the navy at fourteen, but his father made him de-enlist. Still under-aged, he re-enlisted in the Signal Corps, CEF, and went to England. As a member of the 1st Canadian Railway Troops, Mr. Martin, still only fifteen, went into action at the first Battle of Ypres. Because of his age, he was returned to England, finishing the war in the Young Soldiers Battalion. Mr. Martin became a clergyman after the war, reenlisted during the Second World War, and served in Italy as padre for the 17th Field Regiment.

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