Book Review Supplement from Canadian Military History

The folks at the Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies have published Issue 19 (Spring 2007) of the Canadian Military History Book Review Supplement. This is a wealth of book reviews on a wide range of recent publications in Canadian military history (and some non-Canadian titles), including:

E.P.S. Allen, The 116th Battalion in France, 1914-18 (Ottawa, 2005);

Sandy Antal and Kevin R. Shackleton, Duty Nobly Done: The Official History of The Essex and Kent Scottish Regiment (Windsor, ON, 2006);

David L. Bashow, No Prouder Place: Canadians and the Bomber Command Experience (St. Catharines, ON, 2005);

John Boileau, Half-Hearted Enemies: Nova Scotia, New England and the War of 1812 (Halifax, 2005);

John Boileau, Valiant Hearts: Atlantic Canada and the Victoria Cross (Halifax, 2005);

Craig B. Cameron (ed.), Born Lucky: RSM Harry Fox, MBE, One D-Day Dodger's Story (St. Catharines, ON, 2005);

Gary Campbell, The Road to Canada: The Grand Communications Route from Saint John to Quebec (Fredericton, 2005);

Bruce Cane (ed.), It Made You Think of Home: The Haunting Journal of Deward Barnes, Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1916-1919 (Toronto, 2004);

Clifford J. Cate and Charles J. Cate, Notes: A Soldier's Memoir of World War I (Victoria, 2005);

Geraldine Chase and Bill Beswetherick, Gananoque Remembers: A Tribute to the Men Who Gave their Lives for Freedom (Gananoque, ON, 2005);

Albert P. Clark, 33 Months as a POW in Stalag Luft III: A World War II Airman Tells His Story (Golden, CO, 2005);

David R. Facey-Crowther (ed.), Lieutenant Owen William Steele of the Newfoundland Regiment: Diary and Letters (Montreal, 2002);

Cynthia J. Faryon, Unsung Heroes of the Royal Canadian Air Force: Incredible Tales of Courage and Daring during World War II (Canmore, AB, 2003);

Gordon S. Glen, A Memoriam to the Life of James Alpheus Glen, D.S.C. and Bar, Croix de Guerre avec Palme, Royal Naval Air Service, Royal Air Force, Canadian Air Force (Saskatoon, 2004);

Gordon S. Glen, A Memoriam to the Life of David Kenneth Glen, 2nd Regiment, Canadian Mounted Rifles, (B.C. Horse), Canadian Over-Seas Expeditionary Force, Royal Naval Air Service and RAF (Saskatoon, 2004);

J.L. Granatstein, Hell's Corner: An Illustrated History of Canada's Great War, 1914-1918 (Vancouver, 2004);

Adrian Hayes, Pegahmagabow: Legendary Warrior, Forgotten Hero (Huntsville, ON, 2003);

Blake Heathcote, A Soldier's View: The Personal Photographs of Canadians at War, 1939-1945 (Toronto, 2005);

Gerald F. Holm and Anthony P. Buchner (eds.), A Place of Honour: Manitoba's War Dead Commemorated in its Geography (Winnipeg, n.d.);

John McKendrick Hughes, The Unwanted: Great War Letters from the Field (Edmonton, 2005);

Walter W. Igersheimer, Blatant Injustice: The Story of a Jewish Refugee from Nazi Germany Imprisoned in Britain and Canada during World War II (Montreal, 2005);

James Robert Johnston, Riding into War: The Memoir of a Horse Transport Driver, 1916-1919 (Fredericton, 2004);

Kenneth H. Joyce, Snow Plough and the Jupiter Deception: The Story of the 1st Special Service Force and the 1st Canadian Special Service Battalion, 1942-1945 (St. Catharines, ON, 2006);

Wilfred Brenton Kerr, Arms and The Maple Leaf: The Memoir of Wilfred Kerr, Canadian Field Artillery, Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1918 (Ottawa, 2005);

Wilfred Brenton Kerr, Shrieks and Crashes: The Memoir of Wilfred B. Kerr, Canadian Field Artillery, 1917 (Ottawa, 2005);

Frederick Luibby, Horses Don't Fly: A Memoir of World War I (New York, 2006);

Aidan MacCarthy, A Doctor's War (Cork, Ireland, 2005);

David Mackenzie (ed.), Canada and the First World War: Essays in Honour of Robert Craig Brown (Toronto, 2005);

Alan Mann, "No Return Ticket": Wallaceburg's War Casualties and Selected War Memories (Wallaceburg, ON, 2002);

Susan Mann, Margaret Macdonald: Imperial Daughter (Montreal, 2005);

Dan McCaffery, Dad's War: The Story of a Courageous Canadian Youth Who Flew with Bomber Command (Toronto, 2004);

G.B. McKean, Scouting Thrills: The Memoir of a Scout Officer in the Great War (Ottawa, 2003);

Desmond Morton, Fight or Pay: Soldiers' Families in the Great War (Vancouver, 2004);

Desmond Morton, Billet pour le front : Histoire sociale des volontairs canadiens (1914-1919), Outremont, QC, 2005);

Francis Patey, Veterans of the North (St. John's, 2003);

J.P. Pollock (ed.), Letters from Angus, 1915-1916 (Victoria, 2005);

Kenneth Radley, We Lead, Others Follow: First Canadian Division, 1914-1918 (St. Catharines, ON, 2006);

Wayne Ralph, Aces, Warriors and Wingmen: Firsthand Accounts of Canada's Fighter Pilots in the Second World War (Toronto, 2005);

Robert Rutherdale, Hometown Horizons: Local Responses to Canada's Great War (Vancouver, 2004);

Shane B. Schreiber, Shock Army of the British Empire: The Canadian Army in the Last 100 Days of the Great War (St. Catharines, ON, 2004);

Norm Shannon, From Baddeck to the Yalu: Stories of Canada's Airmen at War (Ottawa, 2005);

Donald D. Tansley, Growing Up and Going to War, 1925-1945 (Waterloon, ON, 2005);

Milly Walsh and John Callan (eds.), We're Not Dead Yet: The First World War Diary of Private Bert Cooke (St. Catharines, ON, 2006);

Jeffery Williams, Far from Home: A Memoir of a 20th Century Soldier (Calgary, 2003); and

Katherine Wilson-Simmie, Lights Out!: The Memoirs of Nursing Sister Kate Wilson, Canadian Army Medical Corps, 1915-1917 (Ottawa, 2004).

New book on a Canadian nursing sister and parliamentarian

Debbie Marshall, an Alberta writer and editor, has published a new book, Give Your Other Vote to the Sister: A Woman’s Journey into the Great War, through the University of Calgary Press. This biography covers the amazing story of Roberta MacAdams, the first woman elected to the Alberta legislature. As the University of Calgary Press release puts it:

In fact, she was one of the first two women elected to a legislature anywhere in the British empire. Her triumph was extraordinary for many reasons. Not only did she run while serving as a nursing sister overseas during the Great War, but over 90 per cent of her electors were men – Alberta soldiers stationed in England and in the muddy trenches of the Western Front. Give Your Other Vote to the Sister describes MacAdams’ journey overseas, her work at a large military hospital in London, and the personal sacrifices she endured during the war. It also chronicles Debbie Marshall’s own journey to reclaim MacAdams' life, one that took her across Canada and to the places where MacAdams lived and worked in England and France. It was a search that would change her own perceptions about how and why so may women willingly participated in the world’s first “great war.”

The Canadian Historical Review's new publications listing

The latest issue of the Canadian Historical Review (volume 88, no 1, March 2007) mentions several recently-published books and articles in its "Recent Publications Relating to Canada" with respect to Canadian military history. This list includes: Robert L. Dallison, Turning Back the Fenians: New Brunswick's Last Colonial Campaign (Fredericton: Goose Lane Editions, 2006); Bernard D. Fardy, The July Drive: The Battle for Beaumont Hamel (St. John's: Flanker, 2006); Joop Gerritsma, "The Vickers Vanguard: Its History and Service in Canada", Journal of the Canadian Aviation Historical Society, vol. 43, no. 4 (2005): 128-137; Larry Laliberte, "The 1870 Wolseley Expedition Route", Manitoba History, vol. 52 (2006): 41-42; Norman Leach, Broken Arrow: A True Story of the cold War and America's Fist Lost Nuclear Weapon (Calgary: Red Deer, 2006); Raymond Moriyama, In Search of a Soul: Creating the New Canadian War Museum (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 2006); Gene Quigley, Voices of World War II (St. John's: Jesperon, 2006); and John R. Trigs, "Social Flux at the Naval Establishment at Penetanguishene, Lake Huron, 1817-1834", Historical Archaeology, vol. 39, no. 2 (2005): 105-135.

Facelift for the Borden Military Museum

In Saturday's Toronto Star Roberta Avery penned "Smart salute to the military" (http://www.thestar.com/Travel/article/232408), a piece on the recently revamped Borden Military Museum. Housed in two former hangars on the grounds of Canadian Forces Base Borden, the museum "emphasizes the role of Canada's military as a fighting force. There are about 10,000 artifacts ranging from a CF-5 Freedom Fighter aircraft to the giant tanks, pins and ribbons and a huge collection of model airplanes." Numerous displays and exhibits have been opened or revamped for the museum, ranging from a weapons exhibit with approximately 350 firearms to a First World War field kitchen to a 1950s military ambulance outfitted for use by a field dentist.

Latest Issue of the Canadian Military Journal

The Spring 2007 issue (volume 8, number 1) of the Canadian Military Journal / Revue militaire canadienne (www.journal.forces.gc.ca) has now been published. Amongst its content are a few items of interest to readers of Canadian military history: Major Andrew Godefroy's "Chasing the Silver Bullet: The Evolution of Capability Development in the Canadian Army" / << À la recherche de la << solution miracle >> : l'évolution du développement des capacités au sein de l'armée canadienne >>; Gordon MacKinnon's "Major-General Malcolm Smith Mercer: The Highest Ranking Canadian Officer Killed in the Great War by Friendly Fire" / << Le major-général Malcolm Smith Mercer : l'officier canadien le plus haut gradé tué durant la grande guerre par un tir ami >>; and Ken Reynolds' "'Not a man fell out and the party marched into Arras singing': The Royal Guard at the Unveiling of the Vimy Memorial, 1936" / << << Pas un homme n'a rompu les rangs, et les troupes ont avancé sur Arras en chantant >> - La Garde royale à l'inauguration du monument commémoratif de Vimy, 1936"; as well as several book reviews of note.