No. 3 Canadian General Hospital (McGill) in the Great War: service and sacrifice

During the Great War, McGill University fielded a full general hospital to care for the wounded and sick among the Allied forces fighting in France and Belgium. The unit was designated No. 3 Canadian General Hospital (McGill) and included some of the best medical minds in Canada. Because the unit had a relationship with Sir William Osler, who was a professor at McGill from 1874 to 1885, the unit received special attention throughout the war, and legendary Canadian medical figures, such as John McCrae, Edward Archibald and Francis Scrimger, VC, served on its staff. The unit cared for thousands of victims of the war, and its trauma care advanced through the clinical innovation and research demanded by the nature of its work. Although No. 3 Canadian General Hospital suffered tragedies as well, such as the deaths of John McCrae and Osler's only son Revere, by the war's end the McGill hospital was known as one of the best medical units within the armies in France.