It has been my privilege to be with the Twenty-Fifth right from the day of its organization until the 23rd of April, 1917, and now, from records and diaries which I have kept from the beginning, I am attempting to relate the true story of the wonderful work accomplished by this battalion.
As previously intimated, we organized in the October of 1914, and at that time I was a private under Major MacRae. Since then, to quote the words of Kipling,
"Things 'ave transpired which made me learn The size and meanin' of the game. I did no more than others did, I don't know where the change began; I started as an average kid, I finished as a thinkin' man."
In those early days following upon enlistment we enjoyed some real good times in Halifax and the old boys will always recall with genuine appreciation the many kindnesses shown us by the citizens. Taking all the various circumstances into consideration we were well looked after by the military authorities; of course, our one burning eagerness was to get over to France and plunge into the thick of things as speedily as possible, and when it was rumored that we were going to be put on home duty feeling ran pretty high among the men and some quite lively times were experienced! The rumor, however, came to nothing and we settled down to the routine of our daily drill. By this time I had transferred to the Machine Gun Section and became linked up with "B" Co. with Lieutenant Medcalfe second in command. I shall not waste space in telling you about the time we strutted about, proud of our khaki uniforms, hugging the fond thought that we were real soldiers, even as not a few who today, still at home, wearing the uniform, are victims of the same absurd delusion. At last the great day came--the day of our embarkation; we were going to say our farewell to the land of our birth, sail away over the ocean and begin our great adventure, taking our place among the soldiers of the King and Empire in the greatest fight for liberty and right which the world has ever witnessed.
Eager and keen, and with spirits high, we stepped aboard the old "Saxonia" along with the 22nd French-Canadian regiment, and sailed on the 20th of May, 1915, arriving in England after a pleasant but uneventful voyage. We found the training in England far more thorough than anything we had before experienced. We had to work, and real hard, too, but undoubtedly the process made us better men and tended to increase our confidence as soldiers.