Hardcover, 1991, includes photo Ecellent condition
n three separate occasions, in three different
corners of the world, tens of thousands of
young Canadian soldiers and airmen were
introduced, like lambs to the slaughter, to the glory of
war for God and country.
In Hong Kong, 2000 young and untrained
Canadian troops were dispatched to reinforce a
garrison that the British high command knew was
doomed if the Japanese attacked. Those who survived
the Japanese slaughter of their comrades tell of their
own special hell as prisoners who were viciously
beaten, abused and forced to work as slave labour.
In Europe, Canadian airmen in the thousands,
taking off in heavy bombers from the relative safety
of their Yorkshire base, were ideal targets for the
German night-fighters and anti-aircraft battalions
that blasted them from the air. The air battle over
Germany provided an unnatural bond between these
airmen and more than a half million German
civilians, most of whom were women and children:
they were all sacrificed for a military strategy that the
survivors still do not fully comprehend.'
In Normandy, young Canadian troops struck inland
only tq find themselves facing a German army better
equipped and better trained than anyone at the high
c©mmmand had surmised. With machine guns twice
as owerful and tanks with triple the power of the
Abed forces, the enema cut down the Canadians
with surgical skill. By the time the Battle of
Normandy reached its crisis, many of the Canadians
who had come ashore were wounded or dead.
Now, more than 50 years after the events, the
survivors of these horrors still carry the scars. Brian
McKenna and Terence McKenna, who have provided
some of. e most thought-provoking documentaries
and' in~aestigative reporting in recent times, including ,
the highly-praised World War One film, The Killing
Ground on CBC, have tracked down scores of former
solders and airmen to investigate these little-known
events in Canadian history.
In .touching, often moving moments, the McKenna
brothers bring together the Canadian survivor and
lx s dormer enemies in an effort to put to rest the
frightful dreams of eietor and vanquished. Former
slave labourers in Hong Kong revisit the scenes of
their battle and incarceration and meet their forme
enemy; RCAF pilots who survived the air assault ove
Hamburg meet civilians who survived the firestorm
veterans of the Normandy landing retrace their step:
to the places where so many of their comrades werf
killed.
At each step along the way, the Canadians speak fog
themselves, revealing passion and anger as` they
remember those dark days.
In an unusual collaborative effort l,~tween publishing
and television, tl~e authors and producers of the CBC
television speci~I provide a permanent tribute in thi:
book to the indominatable spirit of countless
C nadians who fought for all the right reasons for the
freedom of us all.
Brian and Terence McKenna, with journalistic skills
honed at The Fifth Estate and The Journal, bring a
fresh and skeptical eye to the official story of Canada
in World War II. The Ualour and the Horror belongs in
the.;home of every Canadian as a memorial, to remind
ail of us that war, for the lonely warrior, is not sc
much glory as it is horror.
Merrily Weisbord is the author of two books, The
Strangest Dreams: Canadian Communists, The Spy
Trials and the Cold War and Our Future Selves: Love,
Sex and Aging. Born in Montreal,a~d educated at
McGill University, she divides her time between the
city and her home near Provost, Quebec.
The author of five non-fiction books, Merilyn
Simonds Mohr lives in Kingston, Ontario, where she
teaches creative non-fiction writing. She is an award-
winning writer and contributes frequently to
Harrousmith and Equinox magazines.
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