World War, 1914-1918 -- Canada; World War, 1914-1918 -- Nova Scotia
Dr. George Kerr Thomson, Professor of Crown and Bridgework and Ceramics
and Oral Hygiene, at the outbreak of the War, held the rank of Captain
in the 63rd Halifax Rifles. Later he was transferred to the C.A.D.C. and
appointed Assistant Director of Dental Services in Military District No.
6. When, early in 1915, Sir Sam Hughes ordered the organization of the
C.A.D.C. Major Thomson was made First Director of Dental Services. In
1916 the Dental Services at Valcartier Camp were organized by Major
Thomson with the assistance of Captain F. H. Bradley of Military
District No. 4. Dr. W. W. Woodbury, Professor of Orthodontia, who had
been appointed Captain in the C.A.D.C. in May, 1918, proceeded to
Aldershot Camp, where as A.D.D.S. for the Camp he had charge of all the
Dental Services there. In October, 1918, Dr. Woodbury was posted for
special duty at McNab’s Island, where he remained until January, 1919,
when he was appointed to Camp Hill Hospital, to superintend the dental
treatment of returned soldiers. He remained at this centre until general
demobilization on November 15, 1919.
_Undergraduate Enlistment._—From the very first hour of the War, the
attention of the undergraduates had been directed to joining the
Canadian Expeditionary Force. Up to the date of the Armistice five
hundred and eighty members of the University had enlisted for military
or naval service, either Overseas or in Canada. Of these, sixty-seven
are known to have lost their lives, and forty-four to have received
decorations for distinguished service. Of those who were decorated, five
lost their lives. The decorations are as follows:
D.S.O. 3
D.C.M. 3, 1 with Bar
O.B.E. 2
M.M. 4
M.C. 32, 2 with Bar
Croix de Guerre 1
These do not include decorations awarded to members of the Staff.
The names of those winning the D.S.O. are: John Keeller MacKay of Pictou
(Law ’13–’15), Colonel and O.C. 22nd Battalion 6th Howitzer Brigade,
B.E.F. J. Layton Ralston (Law ’02–’03) Amherst, Colonel and O.C. of the
85th Battalion, C.E.F. Barry Wentworth Roscoe, of Kentville (LL.B. ’04),
Major 5th C.M.R., C.E.F.
At the outbreak of the War the University had on its books 398 students,
of whom 90 were women. Of the 308 male students of the session 1914–15
by the end of the session practically every third man had enlisted for
military service.
So many students left the Presbyterian Theological College, Pine Hill,
Halifax, as to make it only the shadow of its former self. In the
session of 1914–15 as many as twenty-five students from Pine Hill were
drilling with the O.T.C.; thirteen men from this College ultimately saw
service Overseas.
Of students of Engineering in the session of 1914–15, twenty-one were
enrolled in the O.T.C.
Of Law students twenty-two were on the roll of the O.T.C. during the
first session.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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