Collection search - Alexander, P. Norman - Interview

Record information – Brief

1

Alexander, P. Norman - Interview

Item number (ISN):

380583

Series title:

[The Great War and Canadian Society]

Hierarchical level:

Item (Accession level)

Date:

1974-07-18

Item number (ISN):

380583

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:

1 of 1

Production date:

1974-07-18

Production company:

Opportunities for Youth

Production credit:

interviewer, William Richardson

Description:

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Interview of Lieutenant-Colonel P. Norman Alexander, age 80, who was born in 1894. He talks about: his parents; his siblings; the church as the social center of their existence; his education; his first job, at the Canadian Pacific freight office; various other jobs he had, such as working for a dental supplier; going to work for a Chicago company, Goldsmith Brothers; the Queen’s Own militia; enlisting in the First World War; sailing across the Atlantic Ocean in a large convoy; training on Salisbury Plain; Stonehenge; the uncomfortable living conditions there, in a tent with no floorboards, under constant rain, nine men to a tent, in the mud; his recollection none the less that it was "a lot of fun"; his starting off as a sergeant; how the militia lost its identity to a large extent; the loss of the esprit de corps of the militia; losing his stripes because of a surplus of NCO’s; commandeering a jar of strawberry jam; a transfer to the Army Service Corps to get overseas; infantry pay; driving supply trucks and ambulances; wanting to do more in the war; being recommended for a commission; further training at St. Omer; seeing a part of life at that age that he would not have experienced under other circumstances; gaining an understanding of soldiers and patterns of behaviour; hiding fear and accepting it; army discipline; feeling anxious to get home when the war was over; riots by soldiers anxious to get back to Canada after the war was over; how most of the soldiers did a good job when they were under fire; a landing party into the German trenches; participating in one of these night raids; warning the artillery not to fire on its own men during raid; getting injured; the gradual process of soldiers’ pysching themselves up before a raid; the element of self-preservation; soldiers’ all having the conviction that they were better fighters; the objective of each unit; being there to do a job; in France from 1915 to the summer of 1917; getting out of hospital and being sent back to Toronto; being in charge of a prisoner of war camp; German troops breaking through the line and Toronto soldiers suffering casualties; his unit being sent in to relieve it; taking over for a drunken company commander; difficult fighting during that time, such as at Sanctuary Wood; the camaraderie among the troops during hardship; going back to his same company after he returned from the war; being sent to the Chicago office after the war; how it was more difficult for soldiers in the ranks to adjust to civilian life than it was for officers, because officers were used to having responsibility and giving orders; the Ypres Salient; receiving the Military Cross; convalescing when Armistice was declared; going to a convalescent home in Hampshire; a fancy dress ball while there; his marriage; his relatives in England and staying in touch with them after the war.

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.

Detailed holdings information:

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Vault ISN:

437715

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

C02500

Vault code:

GAT

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

R/R

Technical description:

POLY

Made from:

FROM LOANED MATERIAL

Status:

MASTER

Vault ISN:

737195

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

1975-0098/247
1975-0098/248

Vault code:

GAT

Number of items:

2

Kind of sound:

CASSETTE

Made from:

DEPOSIT

Status:

ORIG
Ordering and viewing options

Conditions of access:

Open

Restrictions on consultation:

No Restrictions / Pas de restrictions

Reproduction access:

With written permission of Copyright Owner / Avec la permission écrite du détenteur des droits d'auteur

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