Alumni and business men interested were permitted to join, and there was so much activity in the autumn of 1914 that by the middle of December the Corps was ready to be inspected by General Sir Sam Hughes, Minister of Militia. The inspection took place on December 18th in the South End Skating Rink. The maximum strength during the first winter session was close on 200. On May 4, 1915, the Corps was inspected by General Rutherford, commanding the Garrison. Lectures continued well on into the summer of 1915.
By the session of 1916 Professor John Cameron, of London, had been appointed to the Campbell Memorial Chair of Anatomy in Dalhousie University, and having had a considerable amount of military experience both with the Volunteer Artillery in Scotland and with Infantry Volunteers in England, was well qualified to take command of the O.T.C., Major Thompson, as Lieutenant-Colonel, having been appointed to the Headquarters Staff as A.A.G. of Military District No. 6. This Professor Cameron did with the rank of Major, and retained the command and gave most of the systematic instruction during the remainder of the existence of the Corps. By arrangement with Colonel Papineau, commanding the R.S.I., candidates for commissions were examined at Wellington Barracks. In this way a considerable number of members of the O.T.C. obtained commissions and were enabled to proceed Overseas with the various Units which were being formed as the War progressed. No less than seven officers who had passed through the D.U.C.O.T.C. went Overseas with the 219th Battalion of the Nova Scotia Highland Brigade. Practically every able-bodied male student was a member of the O.T.C. during the first winter session; and no less than twenty-five members of it were students from the affiliated Presbyterian College at Pine Hill.
The session of 1916–17 was a very strenuous one. Drill took place in the evenings at the newly-erected Market Building at the head of Duke Street, Major Cameron superintending the drill and also giving lectures either there or in the rooms of the Board of Trade. During each winter firing practice was systematically carried out at the miniature ranges erected in the Engineering Laboratory of the Technical College. In March, 1917, the Corps was inspected in the Market Building by Major Cooper of the R.S.I. The O.T.C. is still in existence ready to become active again as soon as the University is in possession of a drill hall.
Stationary Hospital Unit.—The origin of No. 7 Stationary Hospital was the desire of the Medical Faculty of the University to serve their country in the Great War. Early in September, 1914, an offer was made to provide the personnel of a Casualty Clearing Station; this offer was renewed in the spring of 1915, but the Federal Government was not at that time in a position to accept it.
It was very generally felt that the only School of Medicine in the Maritime Provinces ought to have a representation on the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Those who were the most active in renewing the offer were Major George M. Campbell, Major C. V. Hogan, and Capts. J. R. Corston, M. A. MacAulay, L. M. Murray and F. V. Woodbury. The Government accepted the offer on September 27, 1915. On November 1st, the old Medical College building was occupied as rooms for headquarters, and enlistment and training began. On December 16th the Unit was inspected by General Benson, G.O.C., and by Col. J. A. Grant, A.D.M.S., Military District No. 6. On December 31st the Hospital sailed from St. John, N.B., on H.M.S. Metagama, arriving at Plymouth on January 10, 1916. On February 5th the Unit took over Shorncliffe Military Hospital, and on June 18, 1916, embarked for France.
The personnel of the Dalhousie Hospital Unit was made up as follows: O.C., Lieut.-Colonel John Stewart, Majors E. V. Hogan and L. M. Murray, Capts. M. A. MacAulay, V. N. MacKay, K. A. MacKenzie, E. K. MacLellan, S. J. MacLennan, D. A. MacLeod, J. A. Murray, John Rankine, Frank V. Woodbury, Karl F. Woodbury, Lieut. S. R. Halcom, Lieut, and Quartermaster Walter Taylor. The Matron was Miss L. M. Hubley, and there were twenty-six nursing sisters. Of all other ranks there were one hundred and twenty-three men. Sixteen additional men were taken on at Shorncliffe, England.
The Unit arrived home from active service early in the morning of St. George’s Day, 1919, on the S.S. Belgic; in the evening they were entertained at dinner at the Green Lantern in Halifax. Col. John Stewart who returned a little later was entertained at a dinner given in his honor on June 20, 1919.
Activities of the Staff: I. The Faculty of Arts and Science.—The only full-time Professor in the Senate to go Overseas on active service was Professor James Eadie Todd, M.A., who saw service with the B.E.F. in India and in Mesopotamia. Professor Todd, who remained with the troops until the end of the War, did not return to Dalhousie University. Professor Howard Murray, LL.D., during the first year of the War, was a member of the O.T.C. Professor MacNeill during the first year of the War had command of a Platoon in the O.T.C. Professor J. N. Finlayson, M.Sc., entered the O.T.C. at its formation and qualified for a commission in the infantry. Mr. J. W. Logan, M.A., went Overseas as Captain in the 25th Canadian Infantry Battalion, attained his majority in June, 1916, and.saw service in France until the end of the War. The Rev. H. A. Kent, M.A., D.D., having passed through the O.T.C. obtained his Captain’s commission on March 1, 1916, and went Overseas as a combatant in the 219th Battalion of the Nova Scotia Highlanders. Captain Kent saw service until September, 1917, when he was transferred to the Chaplain Service, in which he acted as Adjutant. He was also engaged in educational work in London until he returned to Canada in May, 1919. Mr. Harry Dean, Examiner in Music, had command of a Platoon in the O.T.C., and qualified for a commission in the infantry.
II. The Faculty of Law.—The Dean of the Faculty of Law, Professor D. A. MacRae, Ph.D., joined the O.T.C. and had command of a Platoon during the first session. Mr. John E. Read, B.C.L. (Oxon.), B.A. (Dal.), Rhodes Scholar, Lecturer on Real Property, enlisted in the 25th Battalion in November, 1914, but was immediately transferred to the Canadian Field Artillery, and took an officer’s training course at the Royal School of Artillery, Kingston. In February, 1915, Mr. Read joined the 23rd Battery of the C.F.A. at Fredericton and immediately proceeded Overseas. In July he was transferred to the Divisional Artillery (1st Canadian Division) and served in the 4th, 8th and 26th Batteries as Lieutenant, being promoted to the rank of Captain in July, 1916, on his transference to the 27th Battery. While Captain Read was Acting-Major he was wounded in January, 1917. From May, 1917, to March, 1918, he was Senior Gunnery Instructor at the Canadian School of Gunnery, being invalided to Canada in April, 1918. Captain Read was mentioned in Sir Douglas Haig’s dispatches in June, 1917.
III. Faculty of Medicine.—After Professor Cameron relinquished the command of the O.T.C. he reverted to the rank of Captain, and entering the C.A.M.C. became Resident Physician of the Military Hospital which had been installed in the Presbyterian College at Pine Hill, Halifax.