Nova Scotia Archives

Archibald MacMechan

Halifax Disaster Record Office Materials

A page of reconstruction magazine contains an article on the veteran hospital help after the explosion

2 pages : 30 x 46 cm.

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children were on this ship and in view of the fact that only three days' notice of the transfer to New York was given remarkable success in fulfilling the necessary routine was achieved. Two other ships arrived at St. John, N. B., but Pier 2 is now sufficiently restored to perform its function.
When the news of the disaster reached Ottawa, the Commanding Command, left for Halifax at once and cooperated with the local officials in placing the services of the Commission at the disposal of those in charge of relief.
At Camp Hill hospital was a splendidly equipped kitchen arranged for cafeteria service methods. The Military Hospitals Commission's dietitians from nearby institutions came into Halifax at once and with the local dietitian at Camp Hill and other staff from Pier 2 contrived to server about 4500 meals a day to the homeless and hungry destitute. Prior to the disaster the institution had been feeding fewer than 300 people and the increased amount of work imposed on the staff and facilities was enormous.

ONE SOLDIER'S ATTITUDE
"What are you going to do when you are discharged," a middle-aged patient in one of Canada's military convalescent hospitals was asked. "Do?" he echoed. "I'm going to do what any sane man of my age would do. I'm going straight back to work. This is just marking time in one's life, like having to go to a wedding on one's busiest mail day. I'm not going to exploit the war as a means of getting a living, or do any fool thing like that. I am going straight back to my office, I am. I know exactly where I turned down the page of my sales book when I came out- it was page 79- and I'm going to start it again at page 80."

FORT QU'APPELLE SAN.
Soldier patients suffering from tuberculosis are now being cared for at the new provincial sanatorium at Fort Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan. Provision for vocational training has been made by the M. H. C.

(Text under Photo)
Military patients disembarking from hospital ship at Canadian port of arrival.


Reference: Archibald MacMechan Nova Scotia Archives MG 1 volume 2124 number 356

Nova Scotia Archives — https://archives.novascotia.ca/MacMechan/archives/

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