Letters From the Front

Col. J. M. Elder M.D

Extract with some statistics on No. 3 (McGill) Hospital

Huntingdon Gleaner Published:

At this time, Col. Elder was surgeon in-chief of No. 3 (McGill) Canadian Hospital, near Bologne, France. He later went on to be the C.O. of the hospital.

Dated:

The following is an extract from a letter of Dr. J. W. Elder, who is on hospital duty in France.

We are not so busy since the wet weather set in. At the front it is impossible to do much more than hold on for the next three months; February will see them at it again. We are now beating back the Germans, but it is only inch by inch, and at what a cost! We have handled about 34,000 patients and done nearly 4000 operations. On average, less than one patient in every 200 dies - a record we are proud of. But the number who are maimed for life is very pitiful. No one, who has not been thru it can conceive the awfulness of war. There could be no punishment too bad for the man who provokes a war.

Transcribed by: marc