post, "I expect to wish often that I
had stuck by the artillery." But he had no choice.

Of this period of his service there is little written record. He merely
did his work, and did it well, as he always did what his mind found to
do. His health was failing. He suffered from the cold. A year before his
death he writes on January 25th, 1917:

The cruel cold is still holding. Everyone is suffering, and the men
in the wards in bed cannot keep warm. I know of nothing so absolutely
pitiless as weather. Let one wish; let one pray; do what one will; still
the same clear sky and no sign,--you know the cold brand of sunshine.
For my own part I do not think I have ever been more uncomfortable.
Everything is so cold that it hurts to pick it up. To go to bed is a
nightmare and to get up a worse one. I have heard of cold weather in
Europe, and how the poor suffer,--now I know!

All his life he was a victim of asthma. The first definite attack was
in the autumn of 1894, and the following winter it recurred with
persistence. For the next five years his letters abound in references
to the malady. After coming to Montreal it subsided; but he always felt
that the enemy was around the corner. He had frequent periods in bed;
but he enjoyed the relief from work and the occasion they afforded for
rest and reading.

In January, 1918, minutes begin to appear upon his official file
which were of great interest to him, and to us. Colonel Birkett had
relinquished command of the unit to resume his duties as Dean of the
Medical Faculty of McGill University. He was succeeded by that veteran
soldier, Colonel J. M. Elder, C.M.G. At the same time the command of No.
1 General Hospital fell vacant. Lieut.-Colonel McCrae was required
for that post; but a higher honour was in store, namely the place of
Consultant to the British Armies in the Field. All these events, and
the final great event, are best recorded in the austere official
correspondence which I am permitted to extract from the files:

From D.M.S. Canadian Contingents. (Major-General C. L. Foster, C.B.).
To O.C. No. 3 General Hospital, B.E.F., 13th December, 1917:
There is a probability of the command of No. 1 General Hospital
becoming vacant. It is requested, please, that you obtain
from Lieut.-Col. J. McCrae his wishes in the matter. If he is available,
and willing to take over this command, it is proposed to offer it to him.

O.C. No. 3 General H