The Earl Campbell Story - Life In The Army

On Aug 3, 1916 Earl and the 127th Battalion set sail on the RMS Olympic from Halifax.

David R. Gray in "Carrying Canadian Troops: the story of RMS Olympic as a First World War Troopship" notes that "Olympic" was an important part of Canada's war effort. The Olympic was able to accommodate close to 6,000 troops at a time. Olympic made 10 round trips from Liverpool to Halifax between March and December 1916. On the return voyages she carried wounded soldiers and civilians back to Canada. For the next two years Olympic continued to ferry Canadian and American troops across the Atlantic, and in 1919, brought the victorious soldiers home."



Earl's impression after arriving in England

Aug 31, 1916 Earl wrote to Merelda saying:

"We arrived across the waves allright. And also arrived in Camp O.K. Can not believe that I am in England. The sun shines just like it did down at King" "The English soldiers and girls use us Canadians very good" … " We have very good places to sleep in here. They called them huts. There are thirty-two men in each hut, we sleep on a board floor instead of ground". "We had great meals on the Olympic all right, we even had oranges and apples at supper times. Two eggs apiece for breakfast and all the meat we could get."

In the letter dated September 26, 1916, page 8, Earl comments on the huts: " They gave us all a bed with a tick full of straw. I put pine brush in mine and grass which makes a good bed. We all made a kick for sleeping on the cold floor. So they got beds for us. They are 6 inches of the floor no sides on them. Many a night I would wake up and find myself laying on the floor for they are only two feet wide.



Life in Camp, Witley, Bordon, and Bramshott Military Camp

Upon Earl's arrival in England he was assigned to Witley Camp in Surrey, England.

Witley Military Camp, was an army camp set up on Witley Common, Surrey, England. The camp was 7 miles from Bramshott and appears to have been set up in the early part of the First World War. Camp Witley was one of three camps in the Aldershot Command area; the others were Bordon and Bramshott. Canadian soldiers during the war used Witley Camp as a training base and it was also used as a "rest" camp for soldiers away from the front lines. Earl in his October 24, 1916 letter from Witley Camp

Earl sent letters back home to King from Witley Camp on Sep 26, 1916, Oct 4, 1916, Oct 25th, 1916, Oct 29, 1916 and Nov 18, 1916.



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