A. Stewart MacDonald D.F.C., MD. C..M.
completely fluent in the English language. His was the only problem I had, having to write a French version. In fact, I did not have much trouble with veterans, either in pensions or treatment. I think that the pensioners felt that it was ”better to keep the good will of a dog than the bad.” They did not think it would be to their advantage to make me angry.
I tried to treat them all equally and fairly, feeling that in not doing so, I was as guilty of cheating them out of a cent as ifI robbed them of an equal amount many times. When the occasional pensioner came in and bragged how he was handling his disability, I did not record it as I felt it might not be to his favour. I remember one man who had a bullet wound in the middle of the chest and an escape scar in the middle of his back, telling me that it did not affect him. I am still wondering how he is still alive and why his back bone was not sheared off, making him a total cripple. He said it was his fault; he had looked out an open door, saw the Americans coming down the street, and a sniper got him. He thought it was a silly thing to do. Needless to say, I greatly increased his pension.
Another man with numerous gun shots in both legs claimed no disability, but my good sense told me that this could not be the case.
Another man who was shot in the abdomen causing great trauma to his intestines told me that he was shot in the neck at the same time, but with the major abdominal wound, he did not pay any great attention to the neck wound. He even showed me the small wound in the neck and said that the scar never gave him any trouble. Curiosity caused me to X-ray his head and neck. To my great surprise, there was a piece of shrapnel about the size of a finger nail in his brain area above the ear and the middle of the cranium. How a man could survive
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