Collection search - Clements, Robert N. - Interview

Record information – Brief

1

Clements, Robert N. - Interview

Item number (ISN):

379746

Series title:

[The Great War and Canadian Society]

Hierarchical level:

Item (Accession level)

Date:

1974-07-09

Item number (ISN):

379746

Type of material:

Sound recordings

Found in:

Archives / Film, Video and Sound

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Record information – Details

Fonds/collection:

THE GREAT WAR AND CANADIAN SOCIETY PROJECT

Accession:

1975-0098

Media:

Sound

Part:

3 of 3

Production date:

1974-07-09

Production company:

Opportunities for Youth

Production credit:

interviewer, Mary Tate

Description:

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Interview of Robert N. Clements. He talks about: going to school in the Maritimes; being taught to sing a temperance song; children of Jewish, Syrian, African, Indian and other backgrounds growing up together without any thought about race; people of different backgrounds getting along together just as Canadians in the army; memories of old sailing ships when certain types of cargo still lent themselves to sailing vessels; the rarity of cars; travel by train or boat; telegraph as the predominant form of communication; telephones just starting to come in; his memory going as far back as back as the South African War; being taught in school about the British Empire; remembering when Queen Victoria died; people generating their own entertainment; taking a girl to a chaperoned dance; how people knew about the crude side of life but not much of this side of life was evident; the closeness of families; close-knit maritime communities; men taking the harvest excursions in colonist rail cars to help out with the harvest in Western Canada and how some of them stayed out west; how the speed of change before the First World War was slower and people could adapt to it; the wartime development of technologies such as aircraft and radio during the war and how they were adapted for civilian use after the war; how people tended to stay in their communities and worked in local industries or in subsistence farming; Canada as a more gentle and kindly place before the war; the nature of crime and the treatment of criminals; how most men who enlisted did not understand the real nature of war; Canada’s total unpreparedness when the war broke out; enlistment; military training in Canada and Britain; soldiers training in the Halifax armouries; patriotism for the British Empire as the reason why many men enlisted; his decision to enlist because he was just an age when he was getting restless, he felt his job at the bank was confining, he wanted to be free of some of the restraints, see the world and find some adventure; the economic and political reasons for the First World War; his feeling no particular hatred for the Germans but his objection to many of the things they did; his view that most people did not have much understanding of what the war was about; shaming some men into enlisting, particularly when reinforcements were needed; how most men found it easy to adjust to life in the military; adapting to rough conditions such as mud, dirt and close contact with large groups of unwashed men; the fright felt by some soldiers when they got into combat; the difference between fear and fright, controlling fear, the panic caused by fright; how officers learned to detect men who were going to panic or freeze, relieving a soldier from duty temporarily so that he could gather himself together; getting a soldier to snap out of fright; how soldiers and officers did not know very much when the war began; how much of the training was of no use under battle conditions; the Canadian army reconstructing the rules as much as possible, without breaking them, to fit the situation; German soldiers trained to follow instructions without flexibility; the ability of colonial armies to improvise, using changed conditions to the best advantage; the need to adjust equipment; adjusting to army discipline; how at the start most soldiers realized that they did not know anything about what to do and so were receptive to instruction; officers taught to tell men to do something and not to give them an alternative; postwar problems because veterans who had been used to army discipline now had to make decisions in civilian life, think for themselves and be responsible for food, clothing, medical care and earning a living; punishment of deserters; a story about a feud between some soldiers and officers and how the soldiers deserted; and two Scots who deserted the Canadian Army and joined the Gordon Highlanders.~He also talks about: resentment towards officers at first because officers were inexperienced; his receiving a commission on the field; promotion from platoon sergeant to company commander; receiving advice on how to treat his men and not to try to bluff them; soldiers retaliating against officers who mistreated them; how officer training improved; brigading with the Royal 22nd Regiment; arrival in England; brigade training; the formation of the Third Division in France; the importance of officers who had served in the ranks; going on leave to England; hospitality for Canadian soldiers, such as the Maple Leaf Club and hostels; sightseeing in London while on leave; meeting women and making friends with British people; living conditions in military camps, such as taking baths, wet and dirty conditions, bully beef and other army food; the end of the war; returning to Canada; postwar adjustment and how this was hard for some soldiers; the difficulty some veterans had finding jobs; riots when the war ended; riots in England when soldiers were waiting to be sent back home; a riot in France; the Russian Revolution; Canadian troops sent to Russia; labour unrest in Canada after the war; the Winnipeg General Strike; soldiers and women; drugs in the army; attitudes and conduct toward nurses; sexuality and prostitution; a love letter; reaction to Armistice Day; and leaving England.

Language:

English

Notes:

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1. The interviews took place in 1974 and resulted in the publication of a book entitled "The Great War and Canadian Society" edited by Daphne Read - copyright 1978 - New Hogtown Press, Toronto.~2. Release forms, data sheets, and summary analysis/transcripts are available in binders labelled Opportunities for Youth - War and Canadian Society in VSA's audio-visual section.~3. Part of a series of recorded interviews with elderly citizens who lived in Canada during the period of World War I. The interview material consists of their opinions and observations about the war, the war years, and the effect on Canadian society during and after WWI.~4. The interviewee signed an agreement giving consent for a recording of this interview to be placed in the Public Archives of Canada for the purposes of historical research and also signed a publication agreement allowing any transcribed portions of the interview to be used in the book under the condition that no full names, addresses or phone numbers would be published.~5. Subject description is based on information found in the fact sheet, deposit agreement, publication agreement and summary analysis.
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Date modified:: 2024-07-04