# The Doctor — Memoirs of an Infantry Officer character guide

> The Doctor in Memoirs of an Infantry Officer by Siegfried Sassoon.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** The Doctor, The doctor

**First appearance:** 0000-i-at-the-army-school

## Snapshot

A medical officer whose brisk assessments decide whether the narrator returns to the front or is kept back, embodying the war's quiet power over a soldier's fate.

## Who they are

The Doctor appears at the edges of the narrator's hospital and convalescent world, one of the authorities whose judgement determines what a wounded officer is fit for. He is neither villain nor saviour, just a functionary of a system that measures men in categories of usefulness. His presence matters because it reminds the narrator, and the reader, that even recovery is administered by the War.

## Relationships

### [David Cromlech](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/memoirs_of_an_infantry_officer_se/characters/david_cromlech)

_professional_

David Cromlech and The Doctor have a professional relationship, with the doctor providing medical care and advice.

## In the story

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/memoirs_of_an_infantry_officer_se/chapters/i)

The only man in the Battalion with a Military Cross at that time.

### [III: Before the Push](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/memoirs_of_an_infantry_officer_se/chapters/iii-before-the-push)

Present at the dinner at Battalion Headquarters, looking thoughtful about the upcoming battle.

### [Escape](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/memoirs_of_an_infantry_officer_se/chapters/v-escape)

Decides the protagonist's medical fate, sending him to the coast for recovery.

### [VII: Rouen in February](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/memoirs_of_an_infantry_officer_se/chapters/vii-rouen-in-february)

Diagnoses the narrator with German measles at the base camp.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/memoirs_of_an_infantry_officer_se/chapters/ii)

Another name for the Medical Officer, who expresses his pessimistic views about the war's outcome.

### [VIII: The Second Battalion](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/memoirs_of_an_infantry_officer_se/chapters/viii-the-second-battalion)

At the hospital, tells the narrator he is lucky the bullet missed his jugular vein and spine.

### [IX: Hospital and Convalescence](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/memoirs_of_an_infantry_officer_se/chapters/ix-hospital-and-convalescence)

A temporary Captain who takes sadistic pleasure in tormenting convalescent officers, telling the narrator he will be sent back to the front.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/memoirs_of_an_infantry_officer_se/chapters/i)

Not explicitly mentioned in this chapter, but the medical context is present.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/memoirs_of_an_infantry_officer_se/chapters/ii)

Sadistic temporary Captain at the Great Central Hotel who torments patients.

### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/memoirs_of_an_infantry_officer_se/chapters/vii)

A civilian neurologist on the Medical Board who signals sympathetic understanding and recommends Slateford Hospital.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/memoirs_of_an_infantry_officer_se/characters/the_doctor
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/memoirs_of_an_infantry_officer_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/memoirs_of_an_infantry_officer_se/characters