Description
Mr. MacDougall discusses the formation of a uniquely Nova Scotian brigade, and sailing for England on Friday the 13th aboard the SS Olympia.
Alec MacDougall
Alec MacDougall was born on September 20, 1896 in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. His father was a miner and also owned a farm. Mr. MacDougall finished grade 10, then worked at the local foundry until enlisting in the Army in 1916. His Battalion, the 185th Cape Breton Highlanders trained at Camp Aldershot, Nova Scotia before sailing to England aboard the SS Olympia. He deployed to France as a signaler with the 4th Division, and saw action most notably at Arras and Amiens.
Transcript
There was a whole brigade, the Highlanders' Brigade, they had formed the 85th Battalion, as I told you in ‘15, and they trained in Halifax during the winter then they decided to recruit a brigade. So they recruited us 125 th, the 193rd and the 219th, different parts of Nova Scotia, that was the whole Nova Scotia Brigade. We sailed on the Olympia for England, get this one, Friday the 13th of October, we weren’t sure if we were going to be torpedoed before we got there, but we made it.