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He received an A-l rating Bill had become a lieutenant in the COTC and, naturally enough, decided that he could best serve his country in the army. He breezed through his medical He wrote letter after accident examination with an A-l rating-an important fact' to remember in this story. In point of fact, shortly a . " ' _ But then the powers-that-be took note of his accident he wrote a brief it',rretr2ei,ngitdir/,,o,y,is outstanding scholastic record and the fact that he was Orillia, It was a garbled, rambling sort (Ff link? P a master of science with honors in chemistry. No which he wrote of not feeling well. To this due [tar] m army it?“ 1t‘his yolugg sriapdt'elt,' ruled, for we neeccli no rccollection of ever writing it. V y re 1ati men 0 is ca i re in e ence research an Hcdidn' "WN. te ' . . development. indeed. t realize it at the, tune, bet he was very ill And so, on July 1, 1943, Bill Maynard found Evel n recalls knowin _ F _ _ _ _ . himself behind a desk in the offices of the National saw 'tv/T,',, the '2,'s7iiian/,'/ldtt 'lseiifr,"l 3155118 first Research Council (NRC)in Ottawa. , extremely ill. N , s and was 1 He was 23 at the time--more importantly, he "Bill, as sick as he wa J' ‘~ was a “healthy, robust" 23, his wife recalls. had been a small 2,ts'ii,ansita',1yas,' Btgldhmé. IT,' Evelyn joined Bill in Ottawa when he found a didn't think it had been serious anon. h t e sal he place in which to live, and she soon found a job in a fact to his superiors." g o report the drugstore. That, as it turned _ . “I spent most of my time in Ottawa with the judgment on the part lo/fir/Ceo,',')',. .fril‘or of NRC reading extensively," Bill says. "It was literature officials were to go so far as to den th; t 15}, ater, pertaining to high explosives. Also, I helped to draw ever been any explosion involving Bill/Mad Iarelre had up plans for a small experimental plant to be set up in In the next two weeks Bill's conditiolliI (C,),, d Valcartier, Que., by NBC. On Sept. 25 I was But that'sa gross understatement because fen? _ transferred, or seconded, to the plant which was, in that period, the "healthy robust" you,“ m" gurmg fact, an artillery proving establishment designed to blind, paralysed, irrational and sufgfe art; ecaine [ test high explosives for use in the war." . _ speech. , re loss of Because Bill had no luck finding a place for both Doctors at eff _ . ' _ . . of them to live, Evelyn returned to stay with her diagnose the illnélss 'j//rtL1ieyedgoiidtiit11t.%t,1 not parents at their home near Godfrey. condition continued to deteriorate he was "tr,, I?“ his Bill remembers going to Quebec, but he to Montreal Neurological iifsfit%'i'a' Oct 29am erred. remembers nothing of his few weeks there. Dr. Francis L McNau hton . . ' ' He does, however, remember this much: “I know attending physicians there "IS, t , one Of" Bi.ll S that when I left for Valcartier, I was in good physical 1949 report: _ ' , D write later, m a condition. A mouth before my transfer from Ottawa 1 "The histo - . T , F had a medical and again was classified as A-I. was in his usualrélo‘d/d3 1:351:11:sz {1182.3 if 216 patient "And I also remember that on the Sunday before Shortly after going to Valcartier he did n tefptember. I left, Ev and I went for a walk of about four or five right, complaining of indigestion Abo f; 0601 quite miles. I must have been in good shape to have walked felt weak and tired, and staggered who: 1 CL15 he that/ay, ' . , On Oct. 19, when his wife saw him hi 1‘: “idlkefll. After that, I m afraid, I have to rely on what drawn and grey and he looked tired, 1:1: ills Wis . . t IS 'dn'ili,11tt,T,', weakness. His gait was unsteadyoallié b . had diff!" l) feet higher than normally in walking. He people have told me, on files and on Ev's excellent IC ty m focusing his eyes. memotyn What Bill cannot remember is an explosion of Weakness gradually increased some sort whic; occurred as he worked in the Abe laboratory on eit er Oct. 14 or 15. Nd one is sure of " ut Oct. 27 he b . the exact date . was indistinct. Three '2'y"sTa"2,rrog,sur2,'t 2 rch, Evelyn picks up the story at this point; of being unabltt to move his right foot mp ained “I had only been back home with mother and weaknesg gradually increased to involve {hand the father for about two or three weeks and they had right leg and arm. Irritability was also noted y, entire gone. on a holiday to visit my sister in Amprior. . IHere Dr, McNaughton touched on an area whi -] On a Monday morning Bill phoned me. He )rlii to become a subject of cautr0Vers ' m1 sounded strange. He said he felt very sick. A couple Source of sufferiug and privation for the May ly] the, of days later, when I found out that he had been the {text 35 years: ytrarcls for admitted to Jeffery Hale Hospital in Quebec City, I T . According to the reports received th , ., caught a train for there as soon as 1 could." possible exposure to a number of toxic arm“: was a Bill, today, only vaguely remembers something laboratory in Valcartier, including meth 1) 51111 the about T index finger becoming stiff and the skin carbon monoxide and suplhur dioxide " y a calyol, beginning to peel from his hands. Beyond that-- W nothing.