When the first Canadian Division went to France, No. 1 Canadian
General Hospital had been left behind on Salisbury Plain, to take care
of the sick. It had been decided that I was to go to France in command
of the Canadian Mobile Laboratory, and that I should take with me two
officers and several men from the staff of that hospital. The Lozier
car which had been given me by the Canadian Government was also to go
as part of the equipment. After working in the office of the Director
of Medical Services for a couple of weeks straightening out the
records in regard to typhoid inoculation, and cerebro-spinal
meningitis, and in purchasing the necessary equipment, I received word
that the laboratory was to go to the front immediately. The
Surgeon-General accordingly made all the necessary arrangements, and
left for France, while I went down to Bulford to wait for the expected
telegram which was to speed us on our way.
We waited over three weeks for the message, growing more and more
desperate every day. Finally we went up to London and found that
somebody had made a mistake and that we were supposed to be in France
long ago. We were instructed to leave on the second day following.
The men were all greatly excited at the good news. We had a farewell
dinner that night at the mess, which assumed a somewhat convivial
character, and when I left to drive two visitors into Salisbury, the
hospital dentist was making a rambling, tearful plea to a few
hilarious auditors, on behalf of Ireland, while the great majority
were paying no more attention to him than if he did not exist.
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