. Now it was a shallow sea of stinking gray from end to end. And this is where you fought the war"(12), where he was introduced to an entirely new world filled with stupidity and consumed by death. Robert went through unspeakable conditions, conditions that not only affected men physically but mentally. The Gas attack by the enemy was the most feared weapon by far, "The gas was now two feet above their heads His muscles gave away like bits of yarn and he fouled himself as he peed. How could it matter? They were all going die."(13) Any young man who was lucky enough to return home from World War One was not the same man as when he left. The experience of WWI was more than a lot of men could handle. This was certainly the case with Robert Ross, but it was also the case with many other Canadian soldiers. Many Canadians returned home from the war disheartened and disenchanted with the world. The conclusion of World War One saw the creation of hospitals for veterans for soldiers for the first time in Canada. The First World War was the most tragic section ever in Canadian history. Departed were the old, half-somnolent attitudes which most Canadian communities were accustomed to. A total of 61,326 Canadians had been killed and over 172,950 had been wounded. Robert Ross was a fictional character, but one who could be viewed a representative of how seriously the horrors of World War One affected impressionable young Canadian soldiers. ...
