The Great War took more than 600,000 Canadians from all parts of the country and put them in uniform. The transition from civilian to soldier was not easy, and everyone had to learn much about military procedures and culture—uniforms, ranks, insignia, rations, weaponry, terminology—and, most important, adjust to the presence of aggression, violence and death.
Amid all this, the workaday world of soldiers at or near the front was, at times, a monotonous routine broken, thankfully, by letters from home, packages of foodstuffs, socks or tobacco, and dark humour. Uniforms and gear had irritating foibles. Meals were basic, dull and often cold. A glossary of slang—booby trap, crump, napoo—unique to the trenches evolved. Even after the war ended and most soldiers became civilians again, so...