BY LIEUT.-COL. JOSEPH HAYES, D.S.O., C.A.M.C.
“Men whisper that our arm is weak,
Men say our blood is cold,
And that our hearts no longer speak
That clarion note of old;
But let the spear and sword draw near
The sleeping lion’s den,
Our Island shore shall start once more
To life with armèd men.”
The medical men of this Province were no less ardent in their desire to serve their country in the War than all the other professions, trades and callings. It was a contagion in the air that got into the blood. Sooner or later everybody got it and responded to it according to their own notion of service or opportunity. Medical men were needed at home as well as abroad. There were recruits to be examined and young soldiers in training requiring medical and surgical attention and the country could not be stripped of medical service. No sooner were Units formed than there was a clamor for medical appointments. Some medical men even joined the combatant ranks, although they were soon returned to the medical service owing to the demand for medical officers. Also many Nova Scotia medical men went direct to England, or were already abroad, and joined up with the Royal Army Medical Corps. Many of these, with many regimental medical officers, owing to their isolation from the great body of medical men associated with Canadian Hospitals, will be overlooked in narratives of the doings of the medical fraternity.