NO. 9 CANADIAN STATIONARY HOSPITAL
(St. Francis Xavier College Unit).
With characteristic enterprise St. Francis Xavier College decided, as the War went on, that it should stand side by side with other Universities of Canada in direct representation. In the autumn of 1915 the President and Governors offered a Medical Unit for Overseas. This seemed the most fitting service for a great Christian and humanitarian institution, and it was understood that hospitals were in demand.
Dr. H. P. MacPherson, President of the University, took the matter up direct with the Government of Canada, and in April, 1916, authority was given for the acceptance of No. 9 Canadian Stationary Hospital from St. Francis Xavier.
LIEUT.-COL. R. C. M‘LEOD.
This announcement was received with great enthusiasm, and it was decided not to send the Unit away empty-handed. A subscription list was opened and friends of the University were given an opportunity to subscribe to a fund to provide for some special equipment and to organize a band. The response was most generous, and in a very short time an ample amount of money was secured. Besides private subscriptions, liberal donations were received from the Red Cross, Daughters of the Empire, Knights of Columbus and other societies.
Busy days followed in selecting the personnel and organizing the Unit. No recruiting campaign was necessary. The loyal sons of St. Francis and daughters of Antigonish, and many others everywhere, were offering their services. As the brokers would say: “The stock was over-subscribed.” And it was a matter of selection.
The command was given to Lieut.-Col. Roderick C. McLeod, who had already enlisted in the C.E.F. and was daily expecting orders to proceed Overseas. Colonel McLeod was a graduate of St. Francis Xavier and had attained a wide reputation as a successful medical practitioner of North Sydney. He was a man of a most genial personality and beloved by all who knew him. His appointment to the command of this Unit was hailed with universal satisfaction.
Colonel McLeod was assisted in the work of organization by Major H. E. Kendall as second in command, an outstanding surgeon of Cape Breton; and Major J. S. Carruthers, an energetic Militia officer, was appointed adjutant.
The enthusiasm among nurses for service in this Unit was remarkable. Applications poured in from every Province in Canada and from many parts of the United States, by mail and telegraph. Miss S. C. MacIsaac, a graduate of Mt. St. Bernard Convent, of Antigonish, was chosen as Matron. Miss MacIsaac was trained as a nurse at St. Joseph’s Hospital, Glace Bay, in which institution she had charge of the operating room for three years. She had taken a post-graduate course at Mercy Hospital, Chicago, and when war broke out she was Assistant Matron at Mt. Zion Hospital, San Francisco. Miss MacIsaac therefore came to her new, important and strenuous post well qualified.
The organization of the Unit was completed at the University Town of Antigonish, the seat of the mother College, St. Francis Xavier. The college authorities and citizens of Antigonish vied with each other in extending an enthusiastic reception to the volunteers as they came, and everything was done to make their stay pleasant.
Orders were issued from headquarters for the Unit to mobilize at Halifax in the spring of 1916. The officers took the C.A.M.C. Training Course at Cogswell Street Military Hospital, and the nursing sisters were also posted there, and faithful work was done in a general course of preliminary training.
The original personnel was as follows:
Lieut.-Col. Roderick C. MacLeod, Commanding Officer; Major Henry E. Kendall, Second in Command; Major J. Stewart Carruthers, Adjutant.
Medical Officers: Capts. Alex. R. Campbell, J. F. Ellis, T. A. Lebbetter, A. H. MacKinnon, J. I. O’Connell, L. D. Densmore, Hon. Capt. J. L. Johnson, Capts. R. MacCuish, J. A. McCourt, L. J. Violette, Hon. Lieut. Leo F. Fry.
Nursing Sisters: Emma Ella Barry, Laura Emily Campbell, Sarah Catherine Chisholm, Monica Connell, Isabel Helen Dawson, Helena Margaret Ellis, Florence Mary Kelly, Nellie King, Annie MacDonald, Annie Helen MacDonald, Catharine Chisholm MacDonald, Catharine Eileen MacDonald, Catharine Tulloch MacDonald, Jessie MacDonald, Minnie Frances MacDonald, Flora MacDougall, Mary MacGrath, Sadie Catharine MacIsaac (Matron), Christena Mary MacKenzie, Dora MacKenzie, Annie Tremaine MacLeod, Marcella Agnes O’Brien, Catharine Regina Shea, Edith Alexander Thompson, Mary S. Walsh, Anna Teresa Young.
The Unit was not long in receiving orders to proceed Overseas, and on June 19, 1916, set sail per S.S. Missinabie. After ten days’ sail on typical summer seas a landing was made at Liverpool. Here the jolly family group was divided and the officers and men were sent to Shorncliffe and attached for instruction and duty to Shorncliffe Military Hospital, while the matron and nursing sisters entrained for London, where they were detailed, by the Matron-in-Chief, for duty to various hospitals in England.
CAPT. K. A. M‘CUISH.
This was a sort of a period of orphanage; but in exactly three months, September 29, 1916, the Unit was again reassembled for the purpose of taking over the Bramshott Military Hospital, No. 12 Canadian General Hospital, which served the large military training camps of Bramshott and Witley. This was a splendid experience and training for the entire personnel. A great deal of excellent work was done. The Medical Division was taken charge of by Major Charles Hunter, of Winnipeg, and Major H. E. Kendall was in charge of the Surgical Division, assisted by Capt. K. A. McCuish.
While acting as the Medical Officer of the 5th C.M.R.’s Captain McCuish received wounds at Passchendaele, from which he died. He was buried in the Military Cemetery at Remi Siding, near Poperinghe, Belgium, in a hero’s grave, and now “sleeps where poppies grow in Flanders fields.”
The winter of 1917 taxed the capacity of the hospital to the utmost, as well as the endurance of the Staff, owing to a very severe outbreak of influenza in the Bramshott area. The splendid manner in which the Unit rose to the great demands made upon it and coped with the serious condition that arose, called for special commendation from Major-General Foster, Director-General of the Canadian Medical Services.
Here the first great sorrow came to the Unit in the illness and death of their beloved Commanding Officer, Lieut.-Colonel MacLeod. He contracted anthrax poisoning, from which he died January 4, 1917. With military honors and amidst a large concourse of sorrowing comrades he was laid to rest in the cemetery at Bramshott.
Command of the Unit was taken by Major H. E. Kendall, who was promoted to the rank of Lieut.-Colonel. Lieut.-Colonel Gilmore of Toronto took charge of the surgical section.
The spring of 1917 was a very hard period, as was also the fall of 1917. The damp and chilly English climate was very trying to new Canadian troops, and there was a large amount of sickness. A good many battle casualties were also received from France.
A call came from France for more Canadian hospitals, and No. 9 Canadian Stationary Hospital was selected. The Unit was ordered to proceed to France, and sailed from Folkestone in December, 1917, landing at Boulogne the same day with the following officers: Lieut.-Col. H. E. Kendall, Officer Commanding; Major Charles Hunter, Major Adair, Quartermaster; Capt. J. Williams, Pathologist; Capt. H. L. Reazin, Capt. J. W. Lord, Capt. Andrew Love, Capt. W. F. MacIsaac, Capt. A. F. Slayter, Capt. D. A. Webb, Capt. J. Wilfred, Hon. Capt. J. O. Ralston, Chaplain; Hon. Capt. P. White, Chaplain.
Major Adair was subsequently Quartermaster at No. 3 Canadian General Hospital at Boulogne, where he died suddenly of uræmia following influenza in the spring of 1919.
On arrival in Boulogne the Unit received orders to proceed to Longuenesse, near St. Omer, and open a hospital of four hundred beds. Here everything was found to be in readiness. There were hutted wards of corrugated iron, wooden administration buildings complete in every detail and ready for occupation. There was an excellent, well-lighted, well-ventilated and thoroughly-equipped operating room. The quarters provided for officers, nursing sisters and men were all that could be desired.
It was only a few days before the Unit was ready to carry on, and early in January, 1918, the first convoy was received, consisting of over one hundred wounded soldiers from the Front. Excellent and steady work then continued.
In February instructions were received from headquarters to enlarge the hospital to nine hundred beds. With willing hands and enthusiastic workers this was soon completed, and during the month of March a great many surgical cases were dealt with. Capt. A. Loos and Capt. A. F. Slater were the surgical specialists at this time. On account of the large number of surgical cases application was made for assistants. Capt. T. MacGregor, a noted Scotch surgeon of Glasgow, was sent for temporary duty. The officer in charge of the Medical Division was Capt. H. L. Reazin, a successful and well-known practitioner of Toronto.
During the spring of 1918 the St. Francis Hospital Unit carried on under precisely the same conditions of harassing shell fire and nightly bombing as described in connection with the Dalhousie Medical Unit.
The nursing sisters and hospital Staff displayed great courage all through these trying times, remaining at their posts in the operating room and hospital wards. No pen can describe the nerve-testing and nerve-wracking experience of hearing the swish through the air of those terrible and deadly bombs, then the terrific explosions and rocking and trembling of the earth which meant destruction and death to many. The way those splendid young women carried themselves was magnificent. Without a quiver or the slightest hesitation they kept right along with their work and soothed and encouraged and ministered to their patients. They were the same living contradiction here as elsewhere to all logical relations, and the harmony of things. They would jump up on the operating table and scream at the suggestion of a mouse or trench rat; but would go out into the storm and darkness and fire to give a drink of water to a wounded soldier.
The Unit was making preparations to still further expand the bed capacity of the hospital when orders were issued for all hospitals in the area to evacuate at once. The wounded were sent by ambulance trains to the base, the equipment was packed up, and on April 19th the Unit moved to Etaples, which is a fishing village about twenty miles from Boulogne. It was a large hospital area and there were 25,000 available beds.
On the outskirts of the town near the village of Le Faux a site was provided for the St. Francis Unit. The nursing sisters were detailed for duty to No. 1 Canadian General Hospital and No. 7 Canadian General Hospital. The officers and men were under canvas.
The Unit was under instructions to open a tent hospital of 600 beds, and the work was progressing rapidly when that terrible air raid came at 10 o’clock in the evening of May 18th and continued for nearly two hours. The casualties were very heavy and every hospital suffered. A number of live bombs dropped within the small area occupied by the St. Francis Unit. Two men were instantly killed and thirteen wounded. The killed were Sergeants MacMillen and Taylor. They were buried in the Military Cemetery at Etaples. Seventeen hospital marquees of the Unit were destroyed during this raid. It was fortunate that the Unit had not commenced receiving patients.
COL. R. ST. JOHN MACDONALD.
One of the medical officers, Capt W. F. MacIsaac, of Antigonish, was badly wounded, and succumbed to his injuries in No. 1 Canadian General Hospital on June 3rd. He was a young man of brilliant attainments, exemplary character and a promising young surgeon. He too was buried in the Military Cemetery at Etaples. The whole Unit was in attendance at the funeral.
Since a large part of the hospital equipment was destroyed it was decided to move the Unit to another area. All the railways were congested and every other means of transportation taxed to the utmost; consequently no means of moving the equipment could be obtained, and it remained packed for several months. Most of the officers and men were detailed for duty to other hospitals.
Lieut.-Col. H. E. Kendall was recalled for duty to England on August 28, 1918, and command of the Unit fell to Major R. St. J. MacDonald, who had been posted to the Unit a few months previously.
The Unit was instructed to be in readiness to open up a Convalescent Hospital for the Canadian Corps. But before this was carried out the Germans made an unconditional surrender which they were allowed to call an Armistice.
Hopes were now high for an early, in fact, immediate return home, and this became the all-absorbing topic of conversation.
Capt. A. Sterling, Capt. S. MacKenzie, Capt. G. Zwicker, Capt. G. Phillips and Capt. S. Whitehouse arrived from England on November 20th and joined the Unit. Capt. Sterling had gone Overseas as a combatant officer with the R.C.R.’s and saw considerable fighting. Owing to the scarcity of medical officers in the summer of 1917 he was asked to transfer to the Medical Corps, which he did, and was posted to the Canadian Special Hospital at Etching Hill, where he remained until joining No. 9 Canadian Stationary.
Major S. L. Walker was posted to this Unit on November 25, 1918, and was afterwards promoted to the rank of Lieut.-Colonel. He had been on active service with various Units since the spring of 1915. Colonel Walker was an excellent administrative officer and added strength to the Staff as second in command.
The Unit received instructions to take over the special hospital at Camiers from the Dalhousie Unit, which had received orders to proceed to England en route to Canada. This change took place on February 8, 1919, and St. Francis Unit took over the hospital with 900 patients.
In a short time the number of patients increased to 1,100 and St. Francis Unit had the honor of being raised to the status of a General Hospital. This gave an opportunity for some well-merited promotions among the officers, non-commissioned officers and men.
At this time the Staff was as follows:
| Col. R. St. John MacDonald | Officer Commanding. |
| Lieut.-Col. S. L. Walker | Second in Command. |
| Major H. G. Murray | In charge Medical Division. |
| Major A. Sterling | In charge Surgical Division. |
| Major R. F. Slater | Registrar and Paymaster. |
| Major J. R. MacRae | |
| Major G. S. Gordon | |
| Major S. Sprague | |
| Hon. Capt. H. E. Law | Quartermaster. |
| Hon. Capt. A. E. Hagar | Chaplain. |
| Capt. S. P. H. Morlatt | Dental Officer. |
| Capt. F. Hinds | Dental Officer. |
| Capt. J. F. Elkerton | |
| Capt. J. D. MacDonald | |
| Capt. W. M. MacDonald | |
| Capt. A. R. Campbell | |
| Capt. G. Phillips | |
| Capt. S. Whitehouse | |
| Capt. G. Zwicker |
The stay at Camiers was made more pleasant for the personnel and patients by the attention paid to recreation and amusements. A baseball league was formed for the area and many good games were played, in which there was a great deal of enthusiastic interest. There was also much interest taken in tennis and quoits. A moving-picture theatre was constructed and equipped by the Canadian Y.M.C.A., under Capt. A. E. Hagar, which was an unfailing source of pleasure to the patients and personnel. The Y.M.C.A. also established a canteen and furnished a reading room. The Red Cross too, through its representative, Major F. Murphy, contributed very largely to the success of the Unit by providing comforts for the patients and a large amount of sporting equipment.
A thrill of pleasant anticipation ran through the Unit when on May 20th orders were received that the patients were to be evacuated at once with a view to demobilization and return to Canada. As soon as the patients were evacuated no time was lost in turning the hospital equipment and supplies in to Ordnance Stores. This was completed on May 28th and on May 30th the Unit moved to Boulogne, crossed to Folkestone the same afternoon and arrived at Witley Camp, Surrey, the next day.
After a very pleasant month in England, occupied mostly with leave-taking and renewing old acquaintances, the Unit proceeded to Southampton and embarked on the S.S. Olympic for Halifax on July 2nd, together with No. 7 Canadian General Hospital (Queens) and No. 4 Canadian General Hospital (Toronto).
On July 8th at 6 p.m., after a voyage of only six days, these happy home-comers were docked at Halifax. The Unit was met by representatives of St. Francis Xavier College, whose name it had the honor of bearing, led by Dr. J. J. Tompkins. Dr. Tompkins invited the officers, non-commissioned officers and men to a reception as well as farewell banquet at the “Green Lantern.” Other guests present were Governor Grant, Hon. R. E. Faulkner, Hon. Senator Crosby, Col. John Stewart, Lieut.-Col. E. V. Hogan and John Neville. After an excellent supper the Unit was welcomed home in a very happy manner by Dr. Tompkins, Governor Grant and others. Col. R. St. J. MacDonald and Lieut.-Col. S. L. Walker replied on behalf of the Unit.
The following morning, July 9th, the Unit was demobilized after over three years’ service Overseas.
The entire personnel had changed since leaving Halifax for Overseas, and on demobilization was as follows:
Col. R. St. J. MacDonald.
Lieut.-Col. S. L. Walker.
Major A. Sterling.
Major H. G. Murray.
Major G. S. Gordon.
Major A. F. Slater.
Hon. Capt. A. E. Hagar, Chaplain.
Hon. Capt. F. Kelley, Chaplain.
Capt. A. H. Haugh.
Capt. J. D. MacDonald.
Capt. W. M. MacDonald.
Capt. G. Zwicker.
Capt. G. Phillips.
Capt. S. Whitehouse.
Capt. W. H. P. Lavell.
Capt. W. B. Surleton.
Capt. M. MacKay.
Capt. J. MacBeth.
Capt. S. P. H. Morlatt.
Following is a list of honors received by original members of No. 9 Canadian Stationary Hospital, as far as can be ascertained at the moment of writing:
| Lieut.-Col. R. St. John MacDonald | Mentioned in dispatches. |
| Capt. A. R. Campbell | M.C. |
| Capt. L. D. Densmore | M.C. |
| Matron S. C. MacIsaac | Mentioned for valuable services, 20–10–17; R.R.C., 2nd class, 1–1–19; R.R.C., 1st class, 31–7–19. |
| Nursing Sister F. Kelley | R.R.C., 2nd class. |
| Nursing Sister C. E. Chisholm | Mention, 20–12–18; mention, 11–7–19. |
| Nursing Sister Annie MacDonald | Mentioned for valuable services, 20–10–17. |
| Nursing Sister C. M. MacKenzie | Mentioned for valuable services, 20–10–17. Mentioned for valuable services, 9–9–19. |
| Nursing Sister C. R. Shea | Medaille Militaire des Invalides. |