British Expeditionary Force
No. 1 Canadian Field Ambulance
Sunday, May 2, 1915.

My dear Father,

On Thursday, 10 days ago, we were in a village 10 or 12 miles from Ypres. That evening, about 10 o’clock, just after I had gone to bed, my landlady rushed into my room in alarm; “Les Allemande!” – “the Germans!” – I pooh-poohed the idea that they had broken through our line, but I got up to inquire. No one knew anything definite; everyone had heard the alarming news. Presently orders were issued that some of the ambulance doctors and stretcher-bearers should march up to the billet we had left the day before. On our way through one town we saw women, carrying parcels, crouching in the shadow of the houses, evidently not knowing whether they should stay or fly. On reaching the billet I found that the only officers wanted were a couple of doctors. So at the colonel’s order, another doctor and I rode back to our quiet village, turned in, and slept. Next morning I did nothing more exciting than censor some letters, never dreaming that at that very time our Canadian troops were in the thick of a fierce fight. At noon sudden orders came that nearly all the ambulance personnel were to move up along the main road to a village within a very few miles of Ypres. We took possession of a big house, No. 3 Canadian Field Ambulance being quartered next door, and soon the work commenced. Wounded men began to arrive, some, able to walk, others in ambulance wagons. Two of our doctors were despatched to an aid post, (or first dressing station) close to the canal, back of the scene of action. Twice I went with the ambulance wagons to this post to collect the wounded and bring them back to our temporary hospital for treatment before they should be shipped back further west. I would most gladly have continued this work all night, and I should still more have preferred to be with the fighting troops, as Major Beattie was all along. But our colonel wanted me to see that the patients coming in got something to eat and something hot to drink, and further to supervise the evacuation of the wounded, to see them properly loaded on the ambulance wagons that were to take them away to a clearing hospital for shipment to the base or to England. So for a week that was my chief work. The Friday night following the gallant action of our troops in forcing back the enemy that had broken through the French line was the busiest we had. The doctors were up to their eyes in work; no sooner had one group of wounded been treated and sent away than another group took their place. As you know, the slaughter was terrible, for our lads had to advance on the Friday forenoon over open country against a strong German position. But advance they did, and not one showed fear. The English papers and the whole country rang with the praise of the Canadian troops.

The days were less busy than the nights, for the wounded had to be brought to hospital as much as possible by night, There was not much time for sleep, and I found to my surprise that I could go on day after day with as little sleep as any man in the corps. I made sure of 3 big meals a day. On Sunday evening things grew active again. Two of our doctors, Duval and McGibbon, were up beyond Ypres near an aid post that I had visited on Saturday morning. They were loading an ambulance wagon at a dangerous cross-roads nicknamed “Devil’s corner”, when a shell burst and wounded them and the driver.  They were brought back to our hospital and their wounds were dressed. The driver was hurt so seriously that he died.

Next morning our 1st Brigade got the order to hand over their position to Territorials that had arrived in the meantime, and to take some rest. They had been resting only 4 or 5 hours when they were ordered out again, to a reserve position, to be ready in case they were needed. I walked with the 2nd Battalion to the spot where they halted. On the way George Richardson told me of the heroism of man after man. Of himself he said nothing but I learned from others that few officers showed such courage and such skill. On Monday night the regular work went on, the reception, treatment and evacuation of wounded. On Tuesday afternoon we had our first experience of German shells. One or two dropped in the village, and there was every likelihood of the church being hit. Two of the other ambulances at work here had their patients laid out in the church, the floor covered with stretchers. Our colonel saw the danger, called for volunteers, and soon every patient had been carried to a safer spot a couple of hundred yards away; not a patient was hurt. A shell fell on the field adjoining our hospital, killed two of our horses outright, and tore my poor horse to pieces so badly that he had to be shot.

Once the Germans has the range of this village we knew that we might expect a few shells [remainder of line missing]

On Thursday our 1st Brigade came out of action for a well-earned rest. That night our building was full of wounded, chiefly English Territorials. Conveyances came along, and we got all able to walk loaded and away. No sooner had we done so than the Germans began to blaze away at this village again. Our wagons we lined up on the street a few yards from our building; a shell fell and hurt one of our drivers, and the colonel decided that the building was no longer safe for helpless men, so with all speed the stretcher cases were loaded on our own ambulance wagons and despatched to our former quarters to be treated by two of our doctors at a spot beyond the reach of German shells. We got them all safely away, and then on examination we found that a room upstairs, a quarter of an hour earlier filled with patients, had been entered by a shell. It made an awful mess of the room, but otherwise did not the slightest harm. There was no further work possible that night, so the men were sent away to sleep in various cellars. The officers slept on the ground floor of the building, in perfect silence.

On Friday morning, when our people moved to the rest station some miles back, I got the Colonel's permission to stay here, because there was work for me here, and none there. At Major Beattie’s invitation I took up my quarters with him. On Friday I helped him go over the effects of some dead men he had found and buried on the battle field. Yesterday we visited the four battalions of this brigade, spent some time with each, and arranged for today’s services. This morning we held them. The order varied, usually I spoke first, and he followed. I took as my subject David’s lament over Saul and Jonathan. Nothing happened to disturb our service; the Germans kindly left us in peace. Now, as I write, the windows rattle from time to time, but that is due to our own guns not far away, and that is sweet music.

Now I hope that I have not made it appear that here I am exposed to grave danger, because I am not. A shell seldom hits anyone; it only relieves life of dulness. Even in Ypres, shelled as it has been time and again, you find old women still living. The road beyond Ypres is a sorry mess; the roadway here and there is ploughed up with shells; buildings on either side are shattered. This last week has seen a great deal of devastation.

How soon the war may end no one can say. Certainly the Germans are hard fighters, even though they fight unfairly and smother our troops with vile asphyxiating gas. I only hope that both in Britain and Canada fresh men will come forward to take the places of those who have fought so nobly and in many cases have fallen during the past 10 days.

Your loving son,
A.M.G.