I was only a punk kid

First World War Audio Archive

I was only a punk kid

Transcript

. . . arrived at Le Havre, France and stopped for 5 or 10 minutes

Picture of young Soldier.

when we saw, noticed a bunch of German prisoners heaving rails onto a flat car to be used at some other point. In our battalion was a man by the name of Frank LeMark, a professional wrestler by trade but a linguist also. Spoke perfect German, English, French, and Italian. He asked four of these German prisoners to step aside. He stood in the center of this rail, measured it off, gripped it by both hands, raised it suddenly to a pushing position then heaved it onto the box car. And also, because I was in the boxing business and he the wrestling business, we often discussed things together and he taught me. I was only about 140 pounds at the time, and he taught me how to lift a rail 133 pounds and raise it above my head; once, twice, three times and then drop it. And this went on, and all through our first actions I remember him, and somehow or other, why he came to me, God only knows, I don’t know, but everytime he had a problem he came to me, and I was only a punk kid.

Description

Mr. Butterworth describes being taught how to lift train rails by a soldier who’d been a wrestler.

James Howcroft Butterworth

James Butterworth was born in England and emigrated to Canada in 1907 with his Parents and syblings. His family moved to Alberta where they became farmers. Mr. Butterworth remembers an act of great sacrifice and kindness by a German farm family in Alberta which was to affect his attitude for life. He enlisted on October 27, 1915, with the 65th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, and joined the 46th Battalion. He served in France and was wounded in the foot and knee (accidental). He left the service on February 26, 1919, at rank of private. On June 21, 1926, Mr. Butterworth married Gertrude E. Wilson and they had three children. He was a farmer and worked as a grain buyer for United Grain Growers and later for the Veterans’ Land Act, both in Alberta. He retired in 1961 and settled in Calgary where he died on January 4, 1976.

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