Mobilisation
After training, Lance Corporal George Ramage was sent to the Front, leaving Aberdeen by train on 13 April 1915, the eve of his 33rd birthday.
In his diary, Ramage describes the scene at the station, commenting that the occasion was perhaps less exuberant than it might have been because most of the men in his Company were returning to the Front after having already been wounded there:
'The draft was composed mostly of wounded expeditionary men returning to the firing line hence there was the absence of the exuberant enthusiasm of men going on the great adventure for the first time.'
Nevertheless, it was still a dramatic moment, with bands and well-wishers seeing the soldiers off:
'A pipe band and a brass band preceded us … Dense, appreciative, slightly demonstrative crowds … Sweethearts galore broke the ranks and their own hearts. Flinty hearted sergeants however heaved them back to the crowd again like so many inanimate sandbags.'
