Dear Friends: After five years and more than 100 wartime stories, this will be my FINAL Wartime Wednesdays blog post. But since I’m so eager to stay in touch with all you lovely people, I have an entirely new blog titled Letters From Windermere. My monthly letter will be just that — a chatty update across the digital […]
Read More
Jean Brims Hubbard, now aged 92, joined the Canadian Women’s Army Corps (CWAC) on her day she turned eighteen. Wearing her red and white polka-dotted dress, she is likely the only recruit ever welcomed into the armed forces with a birthday cake! In all my years of interviewing veterans, both male and female, I have […]
Read More
For your summertime reading enjoyment, here’s a collection of five wartime tales that are stranger than fiction – starting with this delightful picture of Samantha Kot, who re-enacted an old photo she discovered right here on Wartime Wednesdays! Aviation Fan Recreates Wartime Photo Samantha Kot of Orangeville, Ontario comes from an aviation-mad family that restores […]
Read More
Here is one of the reasons they call it The Greatest Generation. Canadian Army veteran Russell Thompson of Seeley’s Bay, Ontario, who will turn 99 in a few months, embodies the values that made this country great. The sons of Russell Thompson, Earle and Steve, collaborated to prepare this blog post about their father, a role […]
Read More
Thousands of lumberjacks, members of the Canadian Forestry Corps, logged the forests of Scotland during the Second World War to produce desperately-needed lumber for the war effort. Among them were Carl and Jack Jones, two brothers from Invermere, British Columbia. The Canadian Forestry Corps In a world filled with manmade materials, it is easy to […]
Read More
Eight Métis brothers from Battleford, Saskatchewan served in the Canadian Army during World War Two, following in their father’s footsteps. One brother married and fathered a son while stationed in England, but returned to Canada without ever seeing the boy. The marriage ended, and Ben Ballendine died without knowing that both his British son Colin, AND his British […]
Read More
Seven decades after German artillery fire blew up the Sherman tank Stan Stachera was riding in, as he crossed a muddy intersection in the Netherlands, the folding leather cribbage board he made during his hospital recovery remains his family’s favourite link to his wartime past. (This guest blog was written by my talented friend Kelsey Verboom, writer and […]
Read More
Of all the connections made through Wartime Wednesdays, this is the most wonderful. Hank Herzberg of Chicago, aged 95, learned at last what had happened to his boyhood friend from Hanover, Germany, by reading my post called The German Jew Who Bombed Berlin. And his own story is also extraordinary! First, the Georg Hein Story The […]
Read More
A chance sighting of an old grave marker in Fernie, British Columbia, awakened fresh sympathy for a family who suffered the worst blow of all — not once, but twice. Today’s guest blog post was submitted by my fellow writer and historian, John Chalmers of Edmonton, Alberta. By John Chalmers Most of my writing is related to aviation and […]
Read More
August 19, 2014 marked the 72nd anniversary of the Raid on Dieppe, a bloody fiasco in which thousands of Canadians were killed, wounded or captured. Journalist and historian Rob Alexander of Calgary, Alberta joins Wartime Wednesdays today with this gripping description of his grandfather’s experience on that terrible occasion, based on journals and letters. Pictured […]
Read More