Duty with Honour: the Story of a Young Canadian with Bomber Command in the Second World War
Duty with Honour: the Story of a Young Canadian with Bomber Command in the Second World War

Author: Elizabeth A. Reynolds

Publisher: Xlibris Corporation

Published: 2010-09-13

Total Pages: 167

ISBN-13: 1453563822

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The role of Bomber Command in World War II has been hotly debated over the years. Whatever one may think about the effectiveness and morality of the overall strategy, it is difficult to question the commitment of the individual airmen. Bomber Command suffered the greatest loss per capita of all the Allied forces, experiencing a 63 per cent casualty rate. At one point during the war a navigator could expect to survive fewer than 12 bombing operations. Duty With Honour is the story of one young navigator who served in the Royal Canadian Air Force, from 1940-1945. Flight Lieutenant Lindsay Reynolds completed a tour of operations in the Middle East and returned home in 1943 to instruct in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan in Canada. This is the story of the impact of his experiences in a time of war, on the life he lived when World War II was over. It is a story of one mans commitment to duty with honour.

Double Threat
Double Threat

Author: Ellin Bessner

Publisher: University of Toronto Press

Published: 2019-01-24

Total Pages: 425

ISBN-13: 1487533624

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"He died so Jewry should suffer no more." These words on a Canadian Jewish soldier's tombstone in Normandy inspired the author to explore the role of Canadian Jews in the war effort. As PM Mackenzie King wrote in 1947, Jewish servicemen faced a "double threat" - they were not only fighting against Fascism but for Jewish survival. At the same time, they encountered widespread antisemitism and the danger of being identified as Jews if captured. Bessner conducted hundreds of interviews and extensive archival research to paint a complex picture of the 17,000 Canadian Jews - about 10 per cent of the Jewish population in wartime Canada - who chose to enlist, including future Cabinet minister Barney Danson, future game-show host Monty Hall, and comedians Wayne and Shuster. Added to this fascinating account are Jews who were among the so-called "Zombies" - Canadians who were drafted, but chose to serve at home - the various perspectives of the Jewish community, and the participation of Canadian Jewish women.

A Question of Honor
A Question of Honor

Author: Lynne Olson

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2007-12-18

Total Pages: 514

ISBN-13: 0307424502

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A Question of Honor is the gripping, little-known story of the refugee Polish pilots who joined the RAF and played an essential role in saving Britain from the Nazis, only to be betrayed by the Allies after the war. After Poland fell to the Nazis, thousands of Polish pilots, soldiers, and sailors escaped to England. Devoted to liberating their homeland, some would form the RAF’s 303 squadron, known as the Kosciuszko Squadron, after the elite unit in which many had flown back home. Their thrilling exploits and fearless flying made them celebrities in Britain, where they were “adopted” by socialites and seduced by countless women, even as they yearned for news from home. During the Battle of Britain, they downed more German aircraft than any other squadron, but in a stunning twist at the war’s end, the Allies rewarded their valor by abandoning Poland to Joseph Stalin. This moving, fascinating book uncovers a crucial forgotten chapter in World War II–and Polish–history.

A Thousand Shall Fall
A Thousand Shall Fall

Author: Murray Peden

Publisher: Dundurn

Published: 2003-01-01

Total Pages: 510

ISBN-13: 9781550024548

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In what has been hailed as one of the finest war memoirs ever written, Murray Peden recounts his experiences as a bomber with 214 Squadron during World War II.

Valour and the Horror Revisited
Valour and the Horror Revisited

Author: David J. Bercuson

Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP

Published: 1994-09-22

Total Pages: 193

ISBN-13: 0773565132

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In January 1992 the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) broadcast The Valour and the Horror, a three-part television series on Canada's role in World War II. It sparked a major controversy among viewers, war veterans, and historians. Brian and Terence McKenna, the authors-producers of the series, were accused of distorting historical facts, maligning individuals such as commanders Arthur Harris and Guy Simonds, presenting a biased account of events, and overstepping the line between journalism and drama. The Valour and the Horror Revisited brings together source documents, original essays, and commentaries to provide an analysis of the specific accusations and of larger questions concerning responsible journalism. Included in the collection are reports by David Bercuson and S.F. Wise, who were asked by the CBC ombudsman to assess the series; the CBC ombudsman's report; the McKennas' response to the ombudsman's report; the ombudsman's commentary on the McKennas' response; and three new essays by historians John Ferris, William McAndrew, and Scot Robertson on the incidents covered in the series - Canadian involvement in the battles in Hong Kong and Normandy, and the bombing of Germany. The Valour and the Horror Revisited addresses such important issues as the dangers of "docudrama," the calibre of the Canadian media, the meaning of the Canadian experience in the war, and the nature of history.

Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919
Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919

Author: G.W.L. Nicholson

Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP

Published: 2015-11-01

Total Pages: 709

ISBN-13: 0773597905

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Colonel G.W.L. Nicholson's Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919 was first published by the Department of National Defence in 1962 as the official history of the Canadian Army’s involvement in the First World War. Immediately after the war ended Colonel A. Fortescue Duguid made a first attempt to write an official history of the war, but the ill-fated project produced only the first of an anticipated eight volumes. Decades later, G.W.L. Nicholson - already the author of an official history of the Second World War - was commissioned to write a new official history of the First. Illustrated with numerous photographs and full-colour maps, Nicholson’s text offers an authoritative account of the war effort, while also discussing politics on the home front, including debates around conscription in 1917. With a new critical introduction by Mark Osborne Humphries that traces the development of Nicholson’s text and analyzes its legacy, Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919 is an essential resource for both professional historians and military history enthusiasts.

A Higher Call
A Higher Call

Author: Adam Makos

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2014-05-06

Total Pages: 402

ISBN-13: 0425255735

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THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER: “Beautifully told.”—CNN • “A remarkable story...worth retelling and celebrating.”—USA Today • “Oh, it’s a good one!”—Fox News A “beautiful story of a brotherhood between enemies” emerges from the horrors of World War II in this New York Times bestseller by the author of Devotion, now a Major Motion Picture. December, 1943: A badly damaged American bomber struggles to fly over wartime Germany. At the controls is twenty-one-year-old Second Lieutenant Charlie Brown. Half his crew lay wounded or dead on this, their first mission. Suddenly, a Messerschmitt fighter pulls up on the bomber’s tail. The pilot is German ace Franz Stigler—and he can destroy the young American crew with the squeeze of a trigger... What happened next would defy imagination and later be called “the most incredible encounter between enemies in World War II.” The U.S. 8th Air Force would later classify what happened between them as “top secret.” It was an act that Franz could never mention for fear of facing a firing squad. It was the encounter that would haunt both Charlie and Franz for forty years until, as old men, they would search the world for each other, a last mission that could change their lives forever.

Amazing Airmen
Amazing Airmen

Author: Ian Darling

Publisher: Dundurn

Published: 2009-09-07

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 1459710215

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Canadian and British airmen engaged in fierce and deadly battles in the skies over Europe during the Second World War. Those who survived often had to overcome incredible obstacles to do so. These painstakingly researched stories will enable you to feel what veterans endured while young men in the air war against Nazi Germany.

Write Soon and Often
Write Soon and Often

Author: Andy Thomson

Publisher: FriesenPress

Published: 2016-12-05

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 1460293959

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Travelling through Europe in the summer of 1939, 17-year-old Donald Plaunt witnessed preparations for war in every country he visited. After he completed high school in 1941, Donald became part of that war when he enlisted in the RCAF and became a Lancaster pilot. After training for 20 months, he flew in operations for five weeks before his death on his 11th mission in 1943. There are many compelling stories written by veterans about Bomber Command. What makes this pilot's story unique is that it is told in his youthful voice selected from 150 letters he wrote home. Peppered with his amusing sense of humour, his letters convey a very personal and colourful narrative ranging from tales of his Air Force training, the events of the war, the people he cared about, and the issues that bothered him. It is a story about youth and hope as we follow his journey from a carefree and somewhat entitled rookie pilot to the generous and proud captain of a Lancaster crew. It is also a story of sorrow that explores the heartbreaking impact of his death on his family when he, like so many other young men, did not return home.