{{Short description|Mi'kmaq soldier (1878–1957)}} {{Infobox military person |honorific_prefix = DCM |image = SamGloadeNovaScotia.png |name = Sam Gloade |caption = Sam Gloade with military medals; photo by Clara Dennis |allegiance ={{flag|Canada}} |branch = {{army|Canada}} |rank = Sergeant |unit =64th Battalion, CEF<br>1st Canadian Tunnelling Company |battles = First World War *Battle of Messines |alma_mater = }} Sergeant '''Sam Gloade''' (Glode), DCM (April 20, 1878 – October 25, 1957) was a decorated Mi'kmaq soldier from Milton, Nova Scotia. He served in World War I and was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.<ref>[https://novascotia.ca/museum/mikmaq/?section=image&page=&id=401&period=1925®ion= Nova Scotia Museum]</ref><ref>[http://www.theadvance.ca/News/Local/2014-08-19/article-3839784/Our-Sam-Gloade:-First-World-War-Mikmaq-veteran-was-from-Queens-County/1 Brittany W. Verge. 'Our Sam Gloade': First World War Mi'kmaq veteran was from Queens County. The Queen's County Advance. August 19, 2014]</ref> He trained first with the 64th Battalion, CEF, an infantry reinforcement holding unit in England, and then joined the 1st Canadian Tunnelling Company, Canadian Engineers. Sam was in the Battle of Messines (1917).<ref>[http://www.novanewsnow.com/World/2007-10-01/article-596518/Noted-Guides-Sam-Glode-And-John-Francis-Go-To-19141918-War/1 Noted Guides Sam Glode And John Francis Go To 1914-1918 War. NovaNewsNow.com. October 01, 2007]</ref> He reported:
:Late that afternoon the German artillery on Messines Ridge began to shell our trench and kept it up for a long time. They scared us bad, I tell you. We were all green hands, and we would leave our rifles and run along the trench away from shell burst. Then another shell would burst near us and we would run down the trench again. Some fellows got hit and they hollered and there was a lot of blood.<ref>[http://capebretonsmagazine.com/modules/publisher/item.php?itemid=1605 Thomas Raddall, "Sam Glode: Travels of a Micmac," Cape Breton's Magazine, 35 (January 1984), p. 28.]</ref> He dug trenches under Vimy Ridge, patched roadways near Amiens and defused mines after the war.<ref>[http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/those-who-served/aboriginal-veterans/native-soldiers/warpeace Veterans Affairs Canada]</ref> On one occasion, he was in charge of 20 soldiers who got trapped underground. He is credited with having single-handedly dug for hours before he was able to burrow a hole to the surface.<ref>[http://capebretonsmagazine.com/modules/publisher/item.php?itemid=1605 Thomas Raddall, "Sam Glode: Travels of a Micmac," Cape Breton's Magazine, 35 (January 1984), p. 28.]</ref> He worked from the La Clytte Camp (close to Ypres in Belgium) for over a year. Glode was also in the Battle of Passchendaele and Battle of Amiens (1918). Gloade is buried in the St. Gregory's Roman Catholic Church Cemetery, Milton, Nova Scotia.<ref>Armand Wigglesworth. Anecdotes of Queens County, Nova Scotia, Vol 11, Pgs. 180-188</ref><ref>[http://capebretonsmagazine.com/modules/publisher/item.php?itemid=1599 Thomas Raddall, "Sam Glode: Travels of a Micmac," Cape Breton's Magazine, 35 (January 1984), pp. 26-27.]</ref> His son Louis was a member of the Nova Scotia Highlanders and was wounded by a piece of shrapnel.
== See also == *Military history of Nova Scotia *Military history of the Mi’kmaq people *Tunnelling companies of the Royal Engineers
== References == {{reflist|30em}}
{{authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Gloade, Sam}} Category:1878 births Category:1957 deaths Category:20th-century First Nations people Category:Canadian engineers Category:Canadian military personnel from Nova Scotia Category:Royal Canadian Engineers soldiers Category:Canadian Expeditionary Force soldiers Category:Canadian Mi'kmaq people Category:People from Queens County, Nova Scotia Category:Canadian recipients of the Distinguished Conduct Medal Category:Tunnel warfare in World War I