'My Whole Heart and Soul is in this War': The Letters and War Service of Sergeant G.L. Ormsby

摘要

The 424,000 service men of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) who sojourned overseas in the Great War formed the greatest exodus of Canadians up to that point in the nation's history. Almost all who served King and country were civilians. Before the war, the small Canadian permanent force had remained fairly isolated from the rest of society, more likely to be viewed as parasitic layabouts than the country's defenders. But this new democratic army of civilian-soldiers came from all walks of life and almost all left loved ones behind.