N.B. horse transport driver in WWI among the unsung heroes behind the front lines

James Robert Johnston remembered riding his horse through a small French town toward Vimy Ridge as machine-gun fire sounded all around him.

It was the First World War, and he was taking ammunition to troops on the front lines, performing one of the logistics jobs his son believes haven't been celebrated much in the past century, despite the dangers. 

Ralph Johnston says it was a miracle his father survived that ride along a building-lined street.

"He has no idea why he survived because there was nowhere to turn until he got to the end of the street," Ralph said of his father's recounting of the story in his memoir. "He said it was a 'great deliverance' not being killed."

The father didn't talk to Ralph about his wartime experience as a horse transport driver, or about the logistics operations that kept Canadian soldiers supplied, clothed and fed.

But James did write about his job in his memoir, Riding into War, published in 2004, long after his death.

This is how Ralph got to know what his father went through after enlisting in 1916 when he was 19. James had grown up on a farm, and his love for horses led to the job that had him delivering supplies on horseback or by horse-drawn transport to Canadian troops. Ralph spoke at a recent screening of a documentary called Hidden Heroes. The film commemorates three of those heroes, including James Johnston.  

"They're little recognized because they're not a fighting force, but often they're in the very aim of fire," Ralph said. "They're in the danger areas.

"As my father was driving horses up to the front line with ammunition, it couldn't be any more dangerous. Horses were big targets and if you had a horse and you were riding a horse or guiding a horse, you were a sitting duck for machine gun fire from the enemy."

James stayed on with the military after the war ended. Ralph spent a lot of time with him after graduating from the University of New Brunswick and building a cottage.

"Every day, he drove up there … 7 in the morning, 7 at night, six days a week, and never ever mentioned the war," Ralph said.

But Hidden Heroes focuses on logistics personnel like James from the First World War to the present day.

Roslyn Mugford, producer and director of the project, said logistics personnel are often forgotten about "because they aren't at the sharp end of the spear." "They're the ones who are making sure that our soldiers are fed and making sure that our soldiers have clothing, they're making sure that they have all the supplies that they need to carry out whatever mission it is that they're engaged in."

Mugford said it's important the critical contributions of logistics soldiers are recognized. Without them, the outcomes on the battlefield would have looked different. "Without logistical support, without our logistical soldiers, we wouldn't win the different engagements, the different wars that we're involved in … they're critical members of the military," she said. "We tend to focus on these dramatic stories of soldiers at the front lines running in guns a-blazing … there is so much richness and there is so much depth to the stories of these people who are behind the lines."