Foreword

In a hundred years, fewer than a handful of letters and diaries of soldiers who served in Toronto's 75th Battalion during the Great War have found their way into print, among them One Soldier's Story (1989), by Stanley Lemmex; Silhouettes of the Great War (2001), by John Harold Becker; and We're Not Dead Yet (2004), by Bert Cooke.All were exceptional reads.It is exciting to encounter the equally compelling letters of another soldier of the 75th, Private James Herbert Gibson, who took time to put pen to paper during what can only be described as a horrific four years in world history.Gibson, like many others of his generation, felt it necessary to join the fight when the call went out for volunteers in August 1914.He was a young man of 26, but the terrible sights he would see and the wounds he received would transform the rest of his life.Being born and raised J.H. Gibson's diary.x Foreword near Perth, Ontario, he like many of his friends enlisted in the 130th (Lanark and Renfrew) Battalion, which was based there.In March 1916, he began his basic training, later specializing as a bomber.In October 1916, he sailed for England, but as happened with most battalions from Canada on arrival, the 130th was broken up to provide reinforcements to fighting battalions already on the continent.This is how Private Gibson, along with many others, found his way on a reinforcement draft to the 4th Division, specifically the 75th Battalion, following its losses at the Somme in October-November 1916.The 75th Canadian Infantry Battalion, to which Private Gibson was "taken on strength" (British and Commonwealth military parlance for "reported for duty") in December 1916, had had a relatively short history to that point.Also referred to as the 75th (Mississauga) Battalion, it had been raised in Toronto for war service in July 1915.The secondary title of "Mississauga" came from the 9th Mississauga Horse, the militia cavalry regiment that recruited officers and men for the 75th.On the evening of 4 August 1914, news reached Toronto from overseas that Great Britain had declared war on Germany and its allies following the German army's advance into Belgium.Even before Britain's declaration of war, Sir Robert Borden's conservative government in Ottawa had dispatched two telegrams to London assuring their counterparts in Westminster that Canadians would do their part to maintain the integrity of the Empire.Forty-eight hours after Britain's war declaration, a telegram from London was received in Ottawa accepting Canada's offer of an expeditionary force of about 22,500 men to be sent as soon as possible.In July 1915, Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel Beckett, a 9th Mississauga Horse officer was given command of the newly formed 75th Battalion to be recruited for overseas service.His orders were to recruit a full complement of officers and soldiers-around a thousand.It took but a month for the 75th recruiters to bring the battalion up to strength.At Camp Niagara that summer, the seasoned militia officers and non-commissioned officers of the 75th began preparing their new recruits for war.The objective was to mould these volunteers into a disciplined and skilled fighting formation for overseas service.Paramount was physical training, and the men drilled from morning to night.A similar focus was placed on developing the discipline necessary to follow orders.In addition, rifle drill and maintenance, marksmanship, and bayonet fighting were crucial skills; the recruited men honed them with constant practice.

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