Medicine and Duty: The World War I Memoir of Captain Harold W. McGill, Medical Officer, 31st Battalion, C.E.F.University of Calgary Press, 2007 - 379 pages "The story of the individual always grips us - it is why biography remains so popular. But in Medicine and Duty we receive a double serving: the story of Medical Officer Captain Harold W. McGill coupled with the story of the many men who served in the 31st Battalion and what they together managed to achieve against such long odds." - Patrick Brennan, Centre for Military and Strategic Studies, University of Calgary Medicine and Duty is the World War I memoir of Harold McGill, a medical officer in the 31st (Alberta) Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force. McGill attempted to have his memoir published by Macmillan of Canada in 1935, but, unfortunately, due to financial constraints, the company was not able to complete the publication. Decades later, editor Marjorie Norris came upon a draft of the manuscript in the Glenbow Archives and took it upon herself to resurrect McGill's story. Norris's painstaking archival research and careful editing skills have brought back to light a gripping first-hand account of the 31st Battalion and, on a larger scale, of Canada's participation in World War I. A wealth of additional information, including extensive notes and excerpts from letters written "from the trenches," lends a new sense of immediacy and realism to the original memoir and provides a fascinating, harrowing glimpse into the day-to-day life of Canadian soldiers during the Great War. |
From inside the book
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Contents
I The Threat of War | 3 |
II The Outbreak of War | 7 |
III Mobilization | 15 |
IV Life in Barracks | 27 |
V The Move to England | 43 |
VI Training in England | 59 |
VII The Move to France | 73 |
VIII Baptism of Fire | 85 |
XVI The Battle of the Somme | 203 |
XVII The Battle of the Somme contd | 219 |
XVIII After the Battle | 231 |
XIX The Souchez Sector | 239 |
XX Out of the Line | 249 |
XXI The Storming of Vimy Ridge | 261 |
XXII Beyond the Ridge | 277 |
XXIII Summer Holidays | 295 |
IX Our Enemy the Mud | 109 |
X The Dawn of a New Year | 129 |
XI The Battle of St Eloi | 149 |
XII The Coming of General Byng | 169 |
XIII The Battle of Sanctuary Wood | 175 |
XIV The Summer in Belgium | 185 |
XV The Journey to the Somme | 195 |
Common terms and phrases
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