A. Historical/Histoire

Royal Canadian Medical Service Association

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Royal Canadian Medical Service Association

1 week ago

Dr. Lawrence Bruce Robertson
Canadian Army Medical Corps
C.A.M.C.Dr.Lawrence Bruce Robertson worked at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children before enlisting in the Canadian Army Medical Corps in 1914.

Bruce, as he was known, was born in Toronto in 1885. Having worked in hospitals in New York, Boston, and Toronto, he studied the new technique of blood transfusion. He was 29 years old when the war broke out and he enlisted soon after. Serving as a field surgeon in England, he brought this new technique to the front lines. Thanks to the training he brought to the British army’s medical personnel, the use of blood transfusions helped save the lives of thousands of soldiers.

For almost two years Dr. Robertson was stationed at No. 2 Canadian Casualty Clearing Station (C.C.S.) at Remy Siding. In the 1917 campaign alone, 30,000 casualties were brought from the nearby front lines to be treated at the Clearing Station. Dr. Robertson often remained on duty for 16 hours and sometimes for as long as 24 to 36 hours.

One veteran wrote that “the strain on [Dr. Robertson] was very great and I suppose it was his intense concentration on his job that enabled him to carry on for such a long time – this, coupled with the very tough fibre that was so characteristic of the Canadians in general.”

Dr. Robertson survived the war and returned to Canada in 1918, where he continued his work at the Hospital for Sick Children. Only five years later, in 1923, Dr. Robertson died of pneumonia at the age of 37, leaving a widow and two small children.

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