Called the most talented Canadian physician of his time, John McCrae (1872-1918) achieved international fame by his poem, "In Flanders Fields." The most popular English-language poem of the First World War, it has made the poppy inseparable from memories of war.
John McCrae's life was a microcosm of the years of tumultuous changes in late Victorian Canada. Son of Scottish pioneers, he fought in the Boer and First World Wars, taught medicine art McGill University, was a member of the influential English-speaking elite of Montreal, and a friend of the great and near-great. Deeply religious, he was marked by kindliness and laughter.
This book describes the full-blooded vigour of John McCrae's early and middle years, the writing of "In Flanders Fields" at the height of a battle in 1915, the impact of the poem, and the tragedy of his last years working in a Canadian hospital in war torn France.
Canada has produced some outstanding military leaders in every field of endeavour---in the air, on the land, and at sea. Arthur Bishop once again brings Canadian history to life. As more and more Canadians examine what's gone wrong with the military, Bishop takes a look at an inspiring selection of Canada's finest and noblest military leaders from 1812 to the present day. In Bishop's trademark colourful, narrative style, fifteen leaders are covered in detail from their personal history through their accomplishments on and off the battlefield. Journey into Canada's history as Salute! takes you into battle with such leaders as Isaac Brock, Tecumseh, Arthur Currie, Guy Simonds, John Rockingham, Wilf Curtis, and Jacques Dextraze. See how their outstanding leadership shaped Canada from the War of 1812 to the present. As Canada's Armed Forces struggle out from under the shame of hazings, Somalia, and the subsequent coverups, it is time to look at the great military leaders who led Canada to battle and glory, to learn from them, to be proud of them, to salute them.
Arthur Bishop was a WWII pilot and is the son of legendary WWI flying ace Billy Bishop. His most recent book was Canada's Glory: Battles That Forged a Nation.of effective teamwork in her popular user- friendly, anecdotal style.
This is the story of Canada's greatest destroyer, the aggressive and hard-hitting Haida. She is Canada's most decorated warship, winning honours in the Arctic, English Channel, Normandy, Bay of Biscay, and Korea. Her first commander, the late Harry DeWolf, is Canada's most famous naval hero. Since her decommissioning in 1963, Haida, the last of the feisty Tribals, has been preserved as a national naval memorial. HMCS Haida's story is an account of sharp-end war; of Canada's naval experience in Murmansk convoys and British Home Fleet protection; in English Channel operations, when Canadian and British naval units swept the German naval ensign from the seas; in the destruction of a U-boat, and in the liberation of Trondheim, Normay. Haida was always in on the action. She sank more enemy military tonnage than any other Canadian vessel.Haida's finest days were during the intense naval operations leading up to D-Day. With her sisters Huron and Iroquois and the ill-fated Athabaskan, with British and Polish men of war, she engaged German destroyers, torpedo boats, minesweepers and others and never lost. She vigorously carried the war to the enemy at great risk. Her postwar career including two tours in the Korean theater displays the same brave purpose in her officers and men, trained professionals and dedicated sailors. Barry Gough has written a new chapter in Canadian naval annals, showing that the best equipment brings forth the best results when good fortune and superb seamanship and weapons handling are matched in equal measure Haida's illustrious story.