Diary of James S. Patrick
James S. Patrick’s lined diary has a rare landscape orientation. From December 1918 to May 1919, the diary details a special mission in Russia following the end of the war. The twenty-year-old recruit left Canada on 26 December 1918, crossing the Pacific Ocean to arrive in Russia on 12 January 1919. He was stationed near Vladivostok, a Russian military outpost on the Pacific Ocean (occupied by foreign troops from 1918-1922, after which the Soviet Forces took command of the city). Patrick has a flair for descriptive detail, depicting, for example, the Chinese cooks on board the ship, a burial of a comrade at sea following a fatal accident, and the bitter cold and wind upon arrival in Russia. He also provides snippets of life on the Russian front from signalling class to fatigue parties, and an open-casket Russian funeral. His salient facts include complaints about the food, the lack of horses and guns, and the homelessness of refugees in the city. His writing is regular and neat and some entries are in French.