John McCrae went to the war without illusions. At first, like many
others of his age, he did not "think of enlisting", although "his
services are at the disposal of the Country if it needs them."
In July, 1914, he was at work upon the second edition of the 'Text-Book
of Pathology' by Adami and McCrae, published by Messrs. Lea and Febiger,
and he had gone to Philadelphia to read the proofs. He took them to
Atlantic City where he could "sit out on the sand, and get sunshine and
oxygen, and work all at once."
It was a laborious task, passing eighty to a hundred pages of highly
technical print each day. Then there was the index, between six and
seven thousand items. "I have," so he writes, "to change every item in
the old index and add others. I have a pile of pages, 826 in all. I
look at the index, find the old page among the 826, and then change the
number. This about 7000 times, so you may guess the drudgery." On July
15th, the work was finished, registered, and entrusted to the mail with
a special delivery stamp. The next day he wrote the preface, "which
really finished the job." In very truth his scientific work was done.
It was now midsummer. The weather was hot. He returned to Montreal.
Practice was dull. He was considering a voyage to Havre and "a little
trip with Dr. Adami" when he arrived. On July 29th, he left Canada "for
better or worse. With the world so disturbed," he records, "I would
gladly have stayed more in touch with events, but I dare say one is just
as happy away from the hundred conflicting reports." The ship was the
'Scotian' of the Allan Line, and he "shared a comfortable cabin with a
professor of Greek," who was at the University in his own time.
For one inland born, he had a keen curiosity about ships and the sea.
There is a letter written when he was thirteen years of age in which
he gives an account of a visit to a naval exhibition in London. He
describes the models which he saw, and gives an elaborate table of
names, dimensions, and tonnage. He could identify the house flags and
funnels of all the principal liners; he could follow a ship through all
her vicissitudes and change of ownership. When he found himself in a
seaport town his first business was to visit the water front and take
knowledge of the vessels that lay in the stream or by the docks. One
voyage he made to England was in a cargo ship. With his passion for
work he took on the duties of surgeon, and amazed the skipper with a
revelation of the new technique in operations which he himself had been
accustomed to perform by the light of experience alone.
On the present and more luxurious voyage, he remarks that the decks were
roomy, the ship seven years old, and capable of fifteen knots an hour,
the passengers pleasant, and including a large number of French. All now
know only too well the nature of the business which sent those ardent
spirits flocking home to their native land.
Forty-eight hours were lost in fog. The weather was too thick for making
the Straits, and the 'Scotian' proceeded by Cape Race on her way to
Havre. Under date of August 5-6 the first reference to the war appears:
"All is excitement; the ship runs without lights. Surely the German
kaiser has his head in the noose at last: it will be a terrible war, and
the finish of one or the other. I am afraid my holiday trip is knocked
galley west; but we shall see." The voyage continues. A "hundred miles
from Moville we turned back, and headed South for Queenstown; thence to
the Channel; put in at Portland; a squadron of battleships; arrived here
this morning."
The problem presented itself to him as to many another. The decision was
made. To go back to America was to go back from the war. Here are the
words: "It seems quite impossible to return, and I do not think I
should try. I would not feel quite comfortable over it. I am cabling to
Morrison at Ottawa, that I am available either as combatant or medical
if they need me. I do not go to it very light-heartedly, but I think it
is up to me."
It was not so easy in those days to get to the war, as he and many
others were soon to discover. There was in Canada at the time a small
permanent force of 3000 men, a military college, a Headquarters staff,
and divisional staff for the various districts into which the country
was divided. In addition there was a body of militia with a strength of
about 60,000 officers and other ranks. Annual camps were formed at which
all arms of the service were represented, and the whole was a very good
imitation of service conditions. Complete plans for mobilization were
in existence, by which a certain quota, according to the establishment
required, could be detailed from each district. But upon the outbreak
of war the operations were taken in hand by a Minister of Militia who
assumed in his own person all those duties usually assigned to the
staff. He called to his assistance certain business and political
associates, with the result that volunteers who followed military
methods did not get very far.
Accordingly we find it written in John McCrae's diary from London:
"Nothing doing here. I have yet no word from the Department at Ottawa,
but I try to be philosophical until I hear from Morrison. If they want
me for the Canadian forces, I could use my old Sam Browne belt, sword,
and saddle if it is yet extant. At times I wish I could go home with a
clear conscience."
He sailed for Canada in the 'Calgarian' on August 28th, having received
a cablegram from Colonel Morrison, that he had been provisionally
appointed surgeon to the 1st Brigade Artillery. The night he arrived in
Montreal I dined with him at the University Club, and he was aglow with
enthusiasm over this new adventure. He remained in Montreal for a few
days, and on September 9th, joined the unit to which he was attached as
medical officer. Before leaving Montreal he wrote to his sister Geills:
"Out on the awful old trail again! And with very mixed feelings, but
some determination. I am off to Val-cartier to-night. I was really
afraid to go home, for I feared it would only be harrowing for Mater,
and I think she agrees. We can hope for happier times. Everyone most
kind and helpful: my going does not seem to surprise anyone. I know you
will understand it is hard to go home, and perhaps easier for us all
that I do not. I am in good hope of coming back soon and safely: that, I
am glad to say, is in other and better hands than ours."