Goodreads asked Roger Litwiller:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Roger Litwiller White Ensign Flying did not start off as a book.

I was the commanding officer of a cadet corps named after HMCS TRENTONIAN and wanted to instruct the cadets on the history of their namesake ship. When I looked at the material already published, I was disappointed to find very little information.

I then decided to locate a survivor from the ship and invite them to visit the corps and speak to the cadets. I found Bruce Keir from Scarborough, ON. and in a few hours he told us more about TRENTONIAN than we could hope for. I later arranged to meet Bruce at home to write down some of his stories.

It was during this meeting that I realized that this was a story that had to be told. During our visit he produced an old photo album with over 180 personal photos of his time in TRENTONIAN. No other ship in history has such a complete personal record of day to day service during war.

Eventually I tracked down and interviewed, thirty-five of Bruce's shipmates including their stories with the archival records from Library and archives Canada and the Royal Canadian Navy.

Together, this road to discovery has led to, White Ensign Flying -The story of HMCS TRENTONIAN.

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