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.