By Elinor Florence My family members, on both my mother’s and my father’s sides, served in the Canadian forces in both world wars. But I also have another connection with wartime: my husband’s family. He was born in Berlin after the war and emigrated to Canada as a young man. His father Kurt Drews flew with the […]
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When you read these two letters from France written by Robert Burns Florence in 1916, you will notice the dramatic change between a young man shortly after arriving, and the same young man just one month later, after doing battle at The Somme. In honour of the World War One centenary, I want to share with you these […]
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My godfather Colin Greener stood five foot three in his boots, but he had the heart of a lion. In World War One he fought in the trenches, was wounded twice, and decorated for bravery. He always joked that if he had been taller he wouldn’t have survived. When Britain entered World War One on August 4, […]
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Seventy-two years after my uncle RCAF pilot trainee Alan Light died in a training accident, I discovered a dramatic oil painting that shows the last moments of his life. It was a lovely summer evening on June 5th, 1942. At seven o’clock, the sun was still high in the sky. RCAF Leading Aircraftsman Alan Scott Light was taking his bright […]
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When Janet Mears of Australia started searching for information about her great-uncle Maxwell Cassidy, killed in a 1944 training accident in Canada, the results were astonishing. Not only did she discover that Max had been in love, she found the Canadian girl he left behind – alive and well, and eager to share her memories. […]
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For almost one hundred years, a story has circulated in our family about these two World War One soldiers. My grandfather Charlie Light, right, was saved from certain death on a French battlefield during World War One by his younger brother Jack Light, left. But several family members have expressed skepticism about whether it really […]
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A few years before he died, I asked my father what was the best Christmas he could remember. I expected him to recall his childhood, or a time when his own children were young. But without hesitation, he said: “Christmas 1945!” I asked him why, and here’s the story he told me, in his own […]
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Damn this war anyhow, why can’t people just get along? This was the heartfelt question posed in a letter written the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, by a young Canadian airman who didn’t want to fight but was determined to do his duty. Raymond James Barnes of Battleford, Saskatchewan joined the Royal Canadian […]
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Note to Readers: This is the first introductory blog post I published, back in October 2013. I went on to write more than 100 wartime stories and they are all available on this site under the Wartime Wednesdays category. I currently write a more personal monthly blog called Letters From Windermere, and you’re welcome to […]
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