Elinor Florence's Blog, page 18

True Patriot Love

Happy Canada Week, everyone! Our national holiday is the first of July, but we deserve more than one day to reflect on our fascinating history and our promising future. Please Read On to enjoy three of my favourite Canadian wartime stories.

The Fighting Ballendines

This band of EIGHT brothers served in the Canadian Army during World War Two, following the path laid down by their father John Ballendine and his brother James, both crack snipers in the Great War.

The REAL Kid Soldier: Richard Fuller

Richard Fuller of Niagara Falls, Ontario was only seventeen years old when he joined the militia and trained as a signaller. When war broke out in 1939, he was one of the first men overseas. Daughter Jennifer Maruno drew on his experiences for her Young Adult book titled Kid Soldier.

Painting Dedicated to RCAF Pilot

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.

Painting dedicated to RCAF pilot

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.

D-Day: The Unhappiest Man on the Beach

Arthur Bradford’s Spitfire was shot down over Normandy on D-Day, and he parachuted into the sea where he was promptly “rescued” by a landing craft, steaming towards the beach. He was unarmed, unprepared, and very, very unhappy.

D-Day: Dummies and Decoys

Operation Fortitude was an elaborate, mind-boggling hoax – using rubber tanks, canvas ships, plywood aircraft, and even dummy soldiers to fool the Germans about where we secretly planned to land on D-Day.

Knitting for Victory

Knitting was more than a hobby in wartime – it was an act of patriotism. Literally millions of women, children and even men in Allied countries used their knitting needles as weapons of war. If you weren't a knitter, you might as well have been a Nazi!

Operation Manna: Food, Not Bombs

Twenty thousand Dutch civilians starved to death as World War Two drew to an end, while others ate tulip bulbs to stay alive. The Allies stripped their bombers of weapons, and dropped tons of food instead. One woman describes how Operation Manna delivered her family from starvation.

Heroic Family Hid Jews From Nazis

A Jewish couple spent two terrifying years hiding inside the Scheffer household, in a small town in Holland. Casey Scheffer, who moved to Canada after the war, told me how his courageous family pulled it off without being caught and executed by the Nazis.