Enlisted at Port Alberni Aug. 15th, 1915. Came down to Victoria Aug. 20th and got sworn in with the 88th Victoria Fusiliers at the Willows Camp. We were organized into the 88th Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) Nov. 1, 1915 for overseas service.
Trained at Willows Camp Victoria until we were ready for overseas service. Promoted to Corporal Dec. 1915. Left Victoria on the Princess Charlotte May 23, 1916 for Vancouver and went by CPR train to Halifax. Embarked on White Star Liner Olympic May 30, 1916, arriving at Liverpool June 6 after a very pleasant voyage. Entrained at Liverpool and traveled down to a place called Westinhanger in Kent. Stayed there one or two days and went to [Lydden Spout?] for Musketry.
The 88th Battalion was then disbanded and I was drafted in the 1st Canadian Pioneer (B. Company) being sent to South Ceasar Camp near Folkestone where we had a very nice time.
Went on my first leave up to St. Helens July 6 for 6 days and looked up some of my relatives and old friends and there I met my dear Wife (Rita Turton). Left England Sept. 20 for France arriving in Le Havre the same day. Stayed at Le Havre about two weeks and was sent up to the Front Line in France. After some considerable time we arrived at Camp [.....ear?] Albert on the Somme. After a day or two of rest we went up at night time on a working party around Courcelette and Souchez near the sugar refinery which was all in ruins.
First night in the line our company dug a trench through Death Valley which I can assure you was a very dangerous place being under constant shell fire. Our next move was to a place called Villers A Bau and then to Meuville Vittase on the Arras Sector also to Wanqueten where we were at the time of the advance on Vimy Ridge on Easter Monday. It was snowing at the time. Soon after we had a very long march along the roads of France over one hundred miles, which took several days resting over at several villages along the way. Eventually we arrived at Ypres Sector in Belgium and spent the rest on my time there. About that time our company was attached to the British Army and we were used for building light railways or narrow guage (sic) so the supplies and ammunition could be taken right to the front line. A lot of the time we were under heavy shell fire from the Germans. Sometimes at night we had to go on patrol starting out about ten p.m. arrived back at camp at three or four next morning. There was one very bad place we had to patrol and it got the nickname of "Hell Fire Corner" because there were hundreds of soldiers killed there. After a stay of several months around Ypres I was granted ten days leave to England where I became engaged to my dear wife Rita about the end of October 1917. After my leave was over I returned back to Belgium about Oct. 28th 1917. Six days after I arrived back in camp we were out on a working party around Bellwarde Lake along the Menin Road around Nov. 4 1917 when a piece of Shrapnel Shell got me in the right leg below the knee and I was listed as dangerously wounded. I was carried down to the nearest dressing station on a stretcher. The Doctor told me I was very lucky to be alive because I happened to be with our stretcher bearer who bend my knee right back and supplied a tourniquet to stop the bleeding. I was operated on at (Me 10) casualty clearing station at Poperinghe and was then sent down to the Australian base at Abbeville where they kept me about two weeks until I was fit to be moved on a boat for Southampton. They put me on a swinging cot to avoid vibration. In fact it was so steady I asked when we were going to sail, and to my surprise they told me I had arrive in Southhampton (sic). My next move was to Rednal Hospital in Birmingham arriving there about Nov. 19, 1917. It was a very big place. In about four months time I was sent to Epson in Surrey to recuperate until I got my leave about the end of July. Made my way to St. Helens and Rita and I were married at Eccleston Church July 29, 1918. After my leave was over I went down to Seaford in Sussex. From there to Purfleet in Essex to the Pioneer Camp. From Purfleet to Whitley then started on my way home to Canada. Left Tilbury Docks, London, Sept. 22 arriving at Montreal Oct. 8th after a very slow journey. We crossed Canada by the CPR train and arrived back in Victoria a few days afterwards. I was sent to Queens Park in New Westminster for about two or three weeks and then I got my discharge in Victoria Dec. 4th, 1918.
