Elinor Florence's Blog, page 17

A Rookie Pilot's Nightmare

Bomber crews who flew toward the end of the war, when there were fewer German fighters in the air, were sometimes considered to have an easier ride. But not always, as told in this hair-raising excerpt from Leo Richer’s memoirs called I Flew the Lancaster Bomber.

 

WHAT IF . . . the Nazis Invaded Canada?

What happens if the enemy wins? At some point during the war, probably every Canadian secretly feared the worst. On February 19, 1942, they didn’t have to speculate any longer: a fake Nazi invasion of Winnipeg called IF Day fuelled the nightmare.

Lou Marr: RCAF Camerawoman

Lou Marr called herself “the original turnip who fell off the back of the truck” when she joined the Royal Canadian Air Force Women’s Division and became a photographer. The job demanded hard work, but it also allowed her to fly right along with the men in training. For this farm girl, it was the thrill of a lifetime.

Bombshells and Bomb Girls

Rosie the Riveter, the American We-Can-Do-It girl with the bulging biceps, has become an iconic image. But Canada led the way with our own glamourpuss: Ronnie, the Bren Gun Girl. She was one in A MILLION Canadian women who worked in factories during the war.

Disaster at Dieppe

As his landing craft approached the French coast, Laurence Guy Alexander of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps wolfed down a tin of stew, the last meal he would eat for nearly 24 hours. By dawn, his ship was in the midst of the horrific maelstrom that was the Dieppe Raid of August 19, 1942.

Two Letters From France

What a difference a month makes! When you read these two letters written by Robert Burns Florence in 1916, you will notice the dramatic change between a young man shortly after arriving in France, and the same young man just one month after doing battle at The Somme.

First War Soldier Too Short to Get Shot

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.

The Guys Who Wouldn't Go

Almost 11,000 Canadian men refused, mainly for religious reasons, to perform military duties during World War Two. So the government required them to do “alternate service” in work camps, many of them in Western Canada’s national parks.

Children on the Home Front

How were children protected from the horrors of a world at war? The short answer: they weren’t. Kids were fully involved in the war effort, doing whatever their little hearts and hands could manage.

Stocky Edwards: Fighter Ace, Family Man

Canada’s greatest living fighter pilot, 93-year-old Stocky Edwards, is a legend in aviation circles. But when I visited him and his wife Toni at their home in Comox, British Columbia, this humble gentleman still attributed much of his success to simple luck, and prayer.