In 1917 John executed a series of sketches of Canadian soldiers in preparation for a War Memorial for the Canadian Government. The work would depict the mining district of Lens crowded with troops, stretcher bearers, refugees and German prisoners. He agreed to undertake the work in exchange for a commission with the Overseas Military Forces of Canada, full pay, allowances and expenses. The forty foot canvas was never finished and John eventually refered to it as his 'Canadian incubus'
(See M. Holroyd, A Biography of Augustus John Volume II The Years of Experience, London, 1975, p.74)