Description
Mr. Clemett offers youth his perspective on why they might consider the army as a career.
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
The Ross rifle they were trained for that in Canada and it was trained, when we got to England they discovered that the big difference in the Ross and the Lee Enfield. The Lee Enfield was a much lighter rifle. So they switched over from the Ross to the Lee Enfield. But if you see me walking down the street you wouldn't know it made any difference. But, I did wind up in the 75th Battalion and eventually I moved out of there with the reinforce towards Brussels, Belgium and we were on the borderline of France and also on the borderline of Switzerland we were in the fourth line of divisions. And as a matter of fact where I was located in Brussels, when we marched in there the first day, it took us about three or four days to walk where we had been located. And when we walked in to Brussels we were walking down the street and the officer or sergeant in charge, "Whoa, you four fellas get out of here, you go into that house and that's where you live." There was no questions asked, you were dealt like chickens to a (inaudible) house. You may not know it but . . . there was, while we were there, quite a heavy demand on a flu, influenza, and I don't know how many people were lost but I had a slight attack of it and I was billeted with a couple or three fellas that could speak the (inaudible) language. And spoke to the lady of the house, she had a husband and a son in law and a daughter living there. He told her what my trouble was and the next day I had a long drink of liquid made out of greens out of the garden and from that day I was up on my feet and just felt as good as ever.