Sergeant As a Father Figure

Heroes Remember

Sergeant As a Father Figure

Transcript

I depended an awful lot on my platoon sergeant. He tried to steer me, like one time in Arras. Usually there was a queue going somewheres so I used to figure what was it at the end of the queue to see if there was handout, anything like free like the Salvation Army something like that. They used to get tea and buns and they didn't charge ya. I see this queue, a lot of the people from my platoon in it. George comes walking along, “Hey, what the hell are you doing there?” I said, “It's a queue, to see what's in it.” “You silly little blankety blankety, blank!.” “Don't you know what that is?” “No,” I said, “I don't.” He says what it was was a cat house. He says, “Get out of here or I'll boot your ass all the way back to the company.” But George, he was that kind of a guy.

Description

Mr. Henley describes an amusing incident in which his sergeant, an older, family man, steers him away from a brothel.

Roy Henley

Roy Henley was born in London, Ontario on September 29, 1898. After enlisting in Toronto in 1916 with the 166th Queens Own Rifles, he was discharged with suspected tuberculosis. Mr. Henley re-enlisted, sailed to England aboard the horse transport SS Welshman, and joined the Quebec Regiment. Mr. Henley's recollections are detailed, sometimes graphic and occasionally humorous. His experiences spanned many battles; the Somme, Vimy Ridge, Passchendaele, Cambrai and Arras.

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