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Female Voice: July 1st in Canada
is a day to celebrate.
In Newfoundland, it is also a day to mourn,
and to remember the sacrifices
of the First World War.
Newfoundland was a British
colony and had no militia when
war broke out in 1914.
Yet, just two months later,
citizens of the Island had raised
from scratch a regiment of 500 volunteers,
ready to defend the Mother Country.
Local shops made their uniforms
according to army standards,
except for one detail, the puttees.
A shortage of khaki fabric
meant blue cloth was used instead.
The Newfoundland Regiment
became known as The Blue Puttees.
Male Voice: The homespun Regiment
transformed itself into one
of the crack units of the British Army.
Their fame spread.
Female Voice: Along with the battle
honours came a long list of casualties.
Male Voice: July 1st, 1916,
was the Battle of Beaumont-Hamel.
801 of Newfoundland's finest sons
climbed out of their support trenches...
Only 68 answered the roll call the next day.
In thirty minutes,
the Battalion had all but been eliminated.
Most of them never saw the enemy,
never fired their rifles,
and not one foot of ground was gained.
This was the horror and the carnage
of World War I, at its very worst.
Female Voice: Life on the island
was changed forever by the war.
Newfoundland lost 10 per cent of its population
a generation of young men.
July 1st is a day to remember them,
the valiant Blue Puttees.