Library and Archives Canada has launched a new website featuring interviews with Canada's veterans of the First World War.
The site Oral Histories of the First World War has audio files of interviews with more than 20 veterans.
The interviews originated in the CBC series In Flanders Fields, a series of one-on-one interviews with veterans of the Canadian Expeditionary Force that aired from November 1964 to March 1965.The 29th Battalion, part of the Second Canadian Division, advances into No Man's Land through German barbed wire and heavy fire on April 9, 1917.
(Veterans Affairs Canada)
The veterans talk about famous battles at Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele, and relate both the action of war and the day-to-day routine of fighting men.
In one interview, W.R. Lindsay of the 22nd Battalion tells how he was wounded at Vimy Ridge.
"Then I simply lay on the ground to wait for [the rest of the men] and then a high explosive got me," he said.
"It got me on my elbow and in the hip bone and right across up the bottom of my spine. My batman was with me, so he yelled at me, 'Are you wounded?' I couldn't answer, so he just put his thumb in my eye to see if I was still alive. We used to do it, you know, take the thumb in the eye there and we'd just wink."
The stories are split into seven sections, covering the second battle of Ypres, the war in the air, the Somme, trench warfare, Vimy Ridge, Passchendaele and perspectives on the war.
Those are the same themes used in the CBC Radio series.
Trench warfare and trench foot
In the trench warfare section, H.S. Cooper of the 3rd Battalion relates how some strong leadership and dry socks knitted by church ladies back home helped his men avoid trench foot, an infection caused by cold, wet conditions.
"Now the orders were that men rubbed their feet in the morning, and you had to witness it, you see, and certify that you'd witnessed it," Cooper said.Photograph of a large gun taken during Battle of Vimy Ridge in April 1917. Canadian soldiers tell stories of Vimy and other famous battles on new Oral Histories website.
(National Archives of Canada)
"If a man had a case of trench feet, you were for court martial, no fooling about it all. I mean you had to prove that you had done everything; your orders were properly carried out."
As Remembrance Day is celebrated, only three known survivors of the Great War remain alive in Canada.
The website preserves veterans' stories at a time when their organizations fear they are being forgotten.
The audio files are accompanied by script versions of the interviews for site users who don't have audio software, as well as text and pictures about each subject.
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