A Soldier Kneeling

During the First World War John was attached to the Canadian forces for a period of two months before being sent home after a brawl. Lord Beaverbrook, whose intervention saved John from a court-martial, sent him back to France after he had produced a series of studies for the prospective Canadian War Memorial picture. As a War Artist, he was allowed to keep his facial hair and therefore, he and King George V were the only officers in the Allied forces to have a beard.