No. 1 Canadian C.C.S. was the only Canadian Unit in action during the Battle of Neuve Chapelle. It was one of six C.C.S.’s attached to the First Army. Before the War was over there were sixteen. This Unit showed such prompt action and capacity that it received the special commendation of Major-General Sir W. G. MacPherson, Director Medical Services, First Army, and in June the O.C., Lieut.-Colonel Ford, was awarded the C.M.G., the first awarded to Canadians in France.
During this engagement Capts. C. H. Dickson and G. W. O. Downsley and a party of twelve orderlies were hastily sent to Merville to assist a British C.C.S., and at the Second Battle of Ypres, Captain Downsley and Captain J. M. Stewart, of Halifax, with Nursing Sister Follette and twelve orderlies were assigned to duty at Hazebrouck to assist another British C.C.S.
There was heavy fighting throughout the summer of 1915 in the Bethune Sector, and No. 1 Canadian C.C.S. did a lot of heavy and trying work, and in addition detailed a section under Major W. T. M. McKinnon and Captain C. H. Dickson for duty with No. 2 British C.C.S., which was located at the Village of Choques.
This Unit continued its headquarters at Aire, and in May, June and September took its full share in the herculean task of evacuating the wounded from Festubert, Givenchy and Loos. During the battle of Loos over sixty thousand casualties were evacuated from the British Front by the various clearing stations in four days.
One of the outstanding distinctions of No. 1 Canadian C.C.S. is that, when His Majesty King George V was seriously injured near Bethune in August, 1915, by his horse falling and rolling over on him, one of the nursing sisters of this Unit, V. A. Tremaine, was selected by the Director Medical Services of the 1st Imperial Army for personal attendance upon the King. His Majesty was cared for in a chateau near Aire until he was able to be moved to England. Sister Tremaine and a second nurse who had been selected, Nursing Sister E. K. Ward, Q.A.I.M.N.S. Territorials, accompanied the Royal patient and nursed His Majesty through convalescence at Buckingham Palace.
When Sister Tremaine finished her duties the King conferred upon her the M.V.O. and personally presented her with the insignia of that Order and made a personal gift of an exquisite brooch of gold and enamel set with diamonds. Her Majesty the Queen gave her autograph copies of the royal photographs.
The Unit continued to operate at Aire until January, 1916, when it was transferred to Bailleul and opened up in a very fine pavilion of the Asylum for the Insane. This splendid building was subsequently destroyed by German shell fire and bombs. The Unit saw much strenuous work here, and had its first experience with gassed cases. Sixty of these out of eight hundred died within the first twenty-four hours after being brought in.
Major Edward Archibald, of No. 3 (McGill) Canadian General Hospital, was attached to the Unit as a surgical specialist, and Major W. A. McLean, of Glace Bay, N.S., was transferred from No. 1 Canadian General Hospital as his assistant, and afterwards succeeded Major Archibald. Major McLean was killed during the summer of 1917 while at work in a C.C.S. in the northern sector of the British line. He was considered one of the most brilliant surgeons in the British Army.
In June, 1916, Colonel Ford was appointed Deputy Assistant Director of Medical Services of the Canadian Corps and Lieut.-Col. T. W. H. Young succeeded to the command. Later Colonel Young was succeeded by Major C. H. Dickson, who was promoted to the rank of Lieut.-Colonel.
There was a great deal of activity on the Arras Front in the early spring of 1917, and preparations were being made for the drive for Vimy Ridge. At this time the Unit was transferred to Aubigny, behind Arras. Under the energetic administration of Lieut.-Colonel Dickson this Unit was very much increased in strength and did valuable work during the Battle of Vimy Ridge and throughout the operations on the Arras Front.