Description
Mr. Clemett discusses the revamped educational system and being selected to work for the railroad
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
Well I'm perfectly in good health and (inaudible) was exactly as everybody felt. We were back home again and going to be able to carry on in an individual way. Fortunately the government took over on that angle and provided schooling for you if you wanted school and months of schooling at 70 dollars a month so that's the way it was put in. And if it was a trade that you thought you'd like or if you didn't qualify for it the government puts you in a business or trade where they thought you belonged and that's how it worked out. Fortunately I was connected to the Canadian Pacific Railroad and I spent many, many years over ten years with the railroad. I trained as an employee of the station. Like a, like a station agent along that line. That's the job I was given. I wasn't presented as an agent in the first thing. I spent four years before I got into, into an operators job, an agents job. The rest of the time my work was in the barns handling the freight; receiving the freight and dealing it out properly and other odd jobs that would occur around the station.