The Montreal General Hospital, founded in 1821, has long served its community by its world-class medical facilities and pioneering efforts within the discipline of North American medicine. During both of the twentieth century’s great conflicts many of the hospital’s nurses and physicians enlisted for overseas service.
During the First World War, hospital staff – including 105 nurses – formed part of the No. 3 Canadian General Hospital based in Boulogne, France. Over the course of the Second World War, even more hospital staff enlisted, including approximately twice the amount of nurses. Those who served in the medical field during both wars were constantly subjected to harrowing circumstances, working long hours to alleviate the often gruesome injuries of soldiers at the front. Yet, such was the overwhelming patriotic interest in serving overseas during both wars that the hospital had trouble maintaining the necessary amount of staff at home.
Perhaps the most well-known wartime physician from the Montreal General Hospital is Sir John McCrae. A pathologist who had worked at the hospital since 1902 and a veteran of the Second Boer War, McCrae treated wounded during the Second Battle of Ypres as a field surgeon with the Canadian Field Artillery. During the aftermath of the battle on May 3, 1915, McCrae hastily composed an ode for the burial of his friend killed during the battle, Lieutenant Alex Helmer. McCrae’s poem, In Flanders Fields, was published that year and quickly came to epitomize the sacrifice of a whole generation of soldiers.
1) Hanaway, Joseph and Burgess, John H. The General: A History of the Montreal General Hospital. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2016.
2) Mahon, Andrew. “McGill in Wartime.”
Featured Image: Credit: McCord Museum/