The end of August, 1914, found me following my usual employment as
second mate on a small steamboat plying between St. John's,
Newfoundland, and various stations on the coast of Labrador. The news
from the front aroused my patriotism, and though my captain, who was a
Britisher through and through, strongly urged me to remain with him
because of the great difficulty of securing another man, I was fully
made up in my mind that my clear, plain duty was to enlist. On my
return trip to St. John's I found, greatly to my disappointment, that
it was all too late to enroll my name in the already organized
Newfoundland regiment. There was nothing for it but to cross to Canada
and try my luck at enlisting there. Arriving at Sydney, and making
enquiries, I discovered that the second division was not going to be
formed up for some little time, and I therefore enlisted in the 94th
Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders. With them I remained in Sydney
until October of the same year when the 25th Battalion was
organized--a battalion which has since covered itself with glory and
earned the legitimately proud title of "The Fighting Twenty-Fifth."
Although I was one of them myself, I do not hesitate to assert that a
finer bunch of men never left the shores of Nova Scotia to take up
arms for Britain in the fields of France and Flanders than the gallant
boys of the splendid Twenty-fifth. The general public does not appear
to know very much of the achievements of this battalion and this
perhaps may be due to the fact that we left Canada in May of 1915, and
that we had been in France some nineteen months before any other Nova
Scotia Battalion went into action as a unit. This story is not being
penned with the slightest idea of seeking in any way to disparage the
Nova Scotia Highlanders; that intrepid body of superb fighters have
fought splendidly and well and their glorious record is fresh in the
minds of all.
It has been my privilege to be with the Twenty-Fifth right from the
day of its organization until the 23rd of April, 1917, and now, from
records and diaries which I have kept from the beginning, I am
attempting to relate the true story of the wonderful work accomplished
by this battalion.
As previously intimated, we organized in the October of 1914, and at
that time I was a private under Major MacRae. Since then, to quote the
words of Kipling,
"Things 'ave transpired which made me learn
The size and meanin' of the game.
I did no more than others did,
I don't know where the change began;
I started as an average kid,
I finished as a thinkin' man."
In those early days following upon enlistment we enjoyed some real
good times in Halifax and the old boys will always recall with
genuine appreciation the many kindnesses shown us by the citizens.
Taking all the various circumstances into consideration we were well
looked after by the military authorities; of course, our one burning
eagerness was to get over to France and plunge into the thick of
things as speedily as possible, and when it was rumored that we were
going to be put on home duty feeling ran pretty high among the men and
some quite lively times were experienced! The rumor, however, came to
nothing and we settled down to the routine of our daily drill. By this
time I had transferred to the Machine Gun Section and became linked up
with "B" Co. with Lieutenant Medcalfe second in command. I shall not
waste space in telling you about the time we strutted about, proud of
our khaki uniforms, hugging the fond thought that we were real
soldiers, even as not a few who today, still at home, wearing the
uniform, are victims of the same absurd delusion. At last the great
day came--the day of our embarkation; we were going to say our
farewell to the land of our birth, sail away over the ocean and begin
our great adventure, taking our place among the soldiers of the King
and Empire in the greatest fight for liberty and right which the world
has ever witnessed.
Eager and keen, and with spirits high, we stepped aboard the old
"Saxonia" along with the 22nd French-Canadian regiment, and sailed on
the 20th of May, 1915, arriving in England after a pleasant but
uneventful voyage. We found the training in England far more thorough
than anything we had before experienced. We had to work, and real
hard, too, but undoubtedly the process made us better men and tended
to increase our confidence as soldiers.