"Best WWII Canadian Memoir?" Topic

What is your favorite memoir written by a Canadian?

"Not All Of Us Were Brave" by Stan Scislowski, who served in the Perth Regiment.

Definitely my favourite.

When I started re-enacting WW2, it was one of my first buys. Even though I re-enact 1 Can Para and NNSH, it was invaluable as a perspective of an average Soldier.

My two shillings worth.

Eric

Farly Mowatts. All the Birds forgot to sing I don't have it he title right but it's an unforgettable memoir

Guns of Normandy, Guns of Victory by a FOO.

Double on the Mowat memoir. Lloyd

Farley Mowat, "And No Birds Sang"
An infantry platoon and company commander in theHastings and Prince Edwards Regiment through the Sicilian and Italian Campaign. By the end of the Italian campaign they put him into I think an Intelligence slot for a break.

"Not All of Us Were Brave", by Stan Scislowski.
An infantryman in the Perth regiment through the Italian Campaign then Belgium, Holland and Germany.

"There's A Goddamn Bullet for Everyone", by Arthur Kelly.
An Infantryman in the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry in normandy through to Belgium, Holland and Germany.

"The Long Road Home", by Fred Cederburg.
An infabntryman in both the Cape Breton Highlanders and the Lanark and Renfrew Scottish in the Italian Campaign.

For infantry and ground fighting, these are all very good.

Bill, are you just looking for ground or air or naval too?

For air,,,.

"Terror in the Starbord Seat", by Dave Macintosh.
A Mosquito navigator for night fighter and intruder missions. He later was a member of parliament and a reknowned parliamentary journalist. He also wrote the humour section for the Canadian Legion magazine for years until he passed away. Incredibly funny as well. His story of a night chasing V1s over the Channel is a must read on its' own.

"A Thousand Shall Fall", by Murray Peden.
Pilot of a Sterling in Bomber Command. Goes on to a second tour on B17 Flying Fortresses in the electronic warfare unit of a Pathfinder special squadron. Brilliant analysis and comparison of USAAF and Bomber Command daylight vs night bombing. For that alone a must read.

Naval

"A Bloody War" by Hal Lawrence.
Naval reserve officer aboard a corvette. I think he ended the war as a gunnery officer on a destroyer including some Russian Arctic convoys.

The RCN did a lot of the escorting of convoys from the Carribean all the way tpo Halifax on regular runs. Hal Lawrence was part of a corvette crew that forced a U-boat to surface in the Carribean. He was in command of the boarding party. Worth reading just to find out how he boarded a U-boat naked and then got bombarded by coke bottle by his own crew in the process.

"50 North:An Atlantic Battleground", by Alan Easton.
Started out in charge of one of the first corvettes built in Canada. Later went on to command a frigate. A very fine read.

Another vote for _And No Birds Sang_, it's extraordinarily good, not only as a memoir but as a work of prose. I am now going to check out some of these others -- thanks for sharing, fellows.

Guns of Normandy, Guns of Victory, Where the Hell are the Guns by George Blackburn, excellent!

And No Birds Sang, by Farley Mowat
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I've read perhaps a dozen, and for me the Blackburn trilogy stands above them all.

Farley Mowat also wrote "The Regiment", which is a history of the Hastings and Prince Edward County Regiment in WWII…worth a read

"Boy's Bombs and Brussels Sprouts:One Man's Irreverent Account of Flying for Canada with Bomber Command" by J. Douglas Harvey. A really good read.

I also like "And No Birds Sang" plus "The Regiment" by Farley Mowat.

wrgmr1, that's the wrong George, I think. The Blackburn trilogy is excellent, and packed with technical detail about how the Commonwealth forces employed artillery in NWE.

link

The Douglas Harvey book is another good one. I think he was mostly in Halifax bombers for his tour.

The series of 'Guins' books is written by Blackburn an artillery officer. Thefirst,'where', covers the early to mid war trying to learn without having any equipment. The 'Normandy' obvioously covers the campaign from an artillerymans perspective and the 'Victory' follows the breakout until the end of the war.

It's not WWII, it's WWI (sorry Bill…), but I have enjoyed "Ghosts have warm hands" many times over the years:

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wrt WWII, yes, the "Guns" books are wonderful

There are plenty of good ones.

The George Blackburn books are excellent, but the first volume, "The Guns of Normandy", is certainly the best. As others have said, he was a FOO in NW Europe. Charles Martin's "Battle Diary" (Queen's Own) is also excellent, covering much of the same period.

For the Italian campaign, Scislowski (Perth Rgt) and Mowat (Hastings and Prince Edward Rgt) are terrific, although Mowat was both a great writer and notoriously flexible with his facts, so read him with one eye on other sources. Fred Cederberg (Cape Breton Highlanders) is very good also.

On the Scheldt and Rhineland campaigns, and on Dieppe, Denis Whitaker's several books (RHLI) are excellent. "Once a Patricia" by Sydney Frost (PPCLI) is equally valuable. In French, "Fantassin" by Jean-Charles "Charlie" Forbes (Rgt de Maisonneuve) may be the best of the lot, but I don't think there's an English translation.

Finally, George Kitching's "Mud and Green Fields" is very useful, as the only decent memoir produced by a divisional officer (4th Armoured), and Herb Peppard's "The Lighthearted Soldier" covers the "The Black Devils", the joint US-Canadian First Special Service Force.

There are many, many others, of course, but I've much enjoyed these over the years, and learned from their authors' extraordinary service and sacrifices.

Good luck.