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William Yetman: Interview Transcription

<Yetman>"We got back in August, that's when I heard the war was going on. I thought we left the ship without even telling my father. My father was the Chief Stewart on the vessel."

<Yetman>"And I came to St. John's, went the CLB armory, enlisted, and was accepted. I lied about my age. I wasn't as old as I was supposed to be."

<Yetman>"Went in training at the Pleasantville, that's what it's called nowadays. We were there until October the fourth, that's when we joined the Florizel, five hundred of us."

<Parsons>"Was that the first..."

<Yetman>"That's the first five hundred that left Newfoundland to go over. That's all they wanted, as far as I can read. Well there was five hundred of us joined the Florizel. Marched down led by CLB band, and my mother heard about it, she immediately wired my father and said 'Go get that boy, he's not old enough to be overseas.' But when father arrived in town, the ship had already sailed."

<Parsons>"And you were gone."

<Yetman>"And I was gone, I was gone. And then we ah, we met the convoy from Halifax of other ships. We escorted by ships of the Royal Navy. We landed in England, I'm not quite sure of the exact port we landed. I don't remember that, but I do know that our first camp at the Salisbury Plains, and so help me I believe it rained from the day we landed there until we left. We were under canvas, we were issued with blankets. I remember they were brown, rough, army blankets. And as one sunk in the mud you put another on top of it. I think I must have had a dozen blankets under me."

<Parsons>"It wasn't easy times."

<Yetman>"Oh my good gosh no. And there were what they call duck boards in the tent. But the water and the mud oozed up through the duck boards you know. And it was just all by links that was all. Ah we left there, we were there, I'm not quite sure, just we were there a good deal of it the winter. I don't know we were there, I don't know, wait a minute, I don't think we were there for Christmas, I believe we were moved to Fort George, in Scotland, that's a place on the North of Scotland. And ah, well we were moved, we stayed there for a certain length of time. Then we were moved to ah Edinburgh, Edinburgh Castle from there went Stobs Camp. We finished up in Aldershot and that was our last training camp. Then we were inspected by Kitchener, and the next thing we knew we were on a ship called the Gadgantica, I think her name was. Bound for the Dardanelles."

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