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This exhibit is part of a series produced by the Thunder Bay Military Museum and History Society designed to relate the rich military history of Northwestern Ontario. This production, on the Military Medical Services, details the history of 4 Field Ambulance (now 18 Field Ambulance) through six periods of Unit history.
The first section describes the region’s pre-1914 military medical services in the context of national and regional development. The subsequent section deals with 4 Field Ambulance in the First World War, including its mobilization and transformation from a “paper” unit to an active unit upon the outbreak of hostilities in 1914. Throughout the war, Unit members served in Belgium, France and Germany earning more than 61 individual honours. The third section focuses on the Inter-War period, when the Unit was transferred to the Reserve Force and stationed, alternately, in each of Northwestern Ontario’s Twin Cities of Port Arthur and Fort William. The Unit was first under the command of LCol George E. McCartney in Port Arthur until 1923 when it was relocated to the neighbouring city of Fort William under LCol Hogarth. The fourth section, which deals with 4 Field Ambulance during the Second World War, includes photographs, maps and newspaper articles of the Units exploits along the Western Front. The next section details post-war changes to the Army Medical Services and their particular impacts on 4 Field Ambulance. Contemporary photographs of Unit training and exercises have been donated by Unit members to bring this exhibit into the modern era. The final section describes the contributions of three outstanding unit members; LCol J.D. McIntosh, Col Elizabeth Smellie, and Maj C. Borland. This exhibit demonstrates that while the military medical services have undergone dramatic transformations over the past half-century, 4 Field Ambulance has maintained its active role in the Lakehead communities and is perpetuated today by 18 Field Ambulance, located in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
