Description
Mr. Clemett describes his enlistment and accepting a special role with his unit.
Lloyd Clemett
Mr. Clemett was born December 10, 1899, in Toronto, Ontario. Both his parents passed away when he was quite young and he moved to Omemee, Ontario, to be with close relatives. He was the youngest of four brothers that served in the First World War and was a bugle boy when he enlisted in January 1916, at the age of 16. He joined the 93rd Battalion in Peterborough as a private but was soon transferred to the 109 Battalion in nearby Lindsay. By July 1916, he found himself in England and a year later was stationed in Aubin St. Vast, France, working with the Canadian Forestry Corps. He stayed with the Forestry Corps until 1918, when he volunteered for duty on the front lines, however, the armistice was signed before he ever saw action on the front. Upon his return to Canada Mr. Clemett took advantage of courses offered by the army to help him obtain employment as a railway agent. He lost that job during the Depression and went to work for the old village of Leaside (now part of Toronto) and remained there until his retirement. At the time of this interview Mr. Clemett was 106 years old and one of only three remaining First World War Veterans in Canada.
Transcript
Getting into the army was one of the special ideas I had, very happy about it going overseas, spending a year in England at a training camp and in the army there was many, many happy occasions, in England. You weren't treated too roughly and the treatment they gave you was in preparation to ship across to France and join in the regular troops that were over there, reinforcements for the front line. That was another privilege cause everybody seemed to want to go to the front line. Not giving too much a thought, going into the front line today and not coming out only in a box tomorrow. That's one of the thesis of the front line. Course, I never got there, so can't speak for that because what I was doing was somebody had to do it, others had to do it and a lot of fellas before me and a lot of men after me did the same thing.