The Great War as I Saw It – Review
As a chaplain in the Canadian Armed Forces, I was naturally drawn to The Great War as I Saw It by Frederick George Scott. Scott was a Canadian chaplain during the First World War.
Scott felt compelled to volunteer to go overseas when Canada declared war on the Central Powers. Even when he encountered resistance to heading to France, he fought to make sure things happened.
One of the things I appreciated was that Scott was more of a pastor than an officer and he sometimes got in trouble with the military rules. But he felt called to do his duty.
This book is a recollection of his experience with the troops during the war. He was there quite a while and definitely didn’t limit himself to staying in safe areas.
There are plenty of interesting stories in the book. One was the entertaining story of how he was convinced that an officer was a German spy. On a more serious note, there was the time he snuck out into No Man’s Land to say a funeral service for his son who had been killed. There is also the moving story of the pastoral care he provided to a soldier who had been condemned to death.
Apart from the insight into the ministry of a chaplain, it also provides a new perspective on the First World War. When we thing of “the Great War” we probably only think of the trenches. There are stories about the trenches but also about all the other things that were going on. I felt like I had a better understanding of the First World War.
