Canadian Military History Volume 16 Issue 2 Article 8 2007 Book Review Supplement Spring 2007 Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.wlu.ca/cmh Part of the Military History Commons Recommended Citation "Book Review Supplement Spring 2007." Canadian Military History 16, 2 (2007) This Book Review Supplements is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Canadian Military History by an authorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact [email protected]. et al.: Book Review Supplement Spring 2007 CANADIAN MILITARY HISTORY BOOK REVIEW SUPPLEMENT Spring 2007 Issue 19 Wayne Ralph, Aces, Warriors and after the war. But even so, Ralph gathered together dozens of differ- Wingmen: Firsthand Accounts of changes things up by starting with ent memories and woven them into Canada’s Fighter Pilots in the J.F. “Stocky” Edwards’ exploits in a powerful and effective book that Second World War (Toronto: John the Western Desert and Canadians is “more about people than cam- Wiley & Sons, 2005), $34.99, 272 in the siege of Malta, returning later paigns, about humanity rather than pages, ISBN 0-470-83590-7. to the fall of France and the Battle fighter aircraft, about sociology of Britain. rather than technology” (xiii). Norm Shannon, From Baddeck to The effect is to create something Norm Shannon, a veteran of the Yalu: Stories of Canada’s Air- rather like a scrapbook. The reader fifty-two B-25 Mitchell operations men at War (Ottawa: Esprit de can go through it cover to cover, or during the Second World War, takes Corps Books, 2005), $21.99 paper, randomly flip through the bio- a more traditional approach with 224 pages, ISBN 1-895896-30-4. graphical sketches, each of which his narrative history of Canadian contains a personal profile, wartime military aviation. He begins at the Cynthia J. Faryon, Unsung Heroes and recent photographs, reminis- very beginning, with the refusal in of the Royal Canadian Air Force: cences, and excerpts from other 1910 of Canada’s Militia Council to Incredible Tales of Courage and historical accounts. Scattered consider the airplane as a possible Daring during World War II throughout are other items of spe- weapon of war. From that point, he (Canmore, AB: Altitude Publishing, cial interest, such as portions of the takes us through three wars (and 2003), $9.95 paper, 126 pages, letters of Battle of Britain veteran two periods of peacetime reduction ISBN 1-55153-977-2. Willie McKnight. in the strength of the air force) in The clue to Wayne Ralph’s ap- prose that could perhaps only have ne of Canada’s best aviation his- proach can be found in his pro- been written by one who had flown Otorians has done it again with logue, which will strike a chord in combat himself. Well illustrated this fascinating account of Canadi- with anyone who has done oral his- (in colour as well as black and ans in aerial fighting during the tory interviews. Memory is a curi- white), it covers much familiar Second World War. What makes ous thing, sometimes muddled and ground but will provide a good read Aces, Warriors and Wingmen so confused, sometimes frighteningly for the non-specialist looking for a effective is that it’s not a traditional sharp. In interviewing airmen over good survey history. narrative that attempts to follow the the years, Ralph came into contact Younger readers will find equal course of the war in chronological with many types of memories, from interest in Faryon’s Unsung Heroes order. Instead, Ralph builds the the man who was determined that of the Royal Canadian Air Force, book around a number of biographi- only he could set the historical a collection of twelve accounts of cal sketches that cover the breadth record straight to the man who said Canadians in the air war. They are of the war experience, from Cana- “I think I got the Croix de Guerre. well written and engaging, and the dians in the Royal Air Force in 1939 But I don’t remember.” In Aces, only complaint one can make about to their readjustment to civilian life Warriors and Wingmen, Ralph has the book is its balance. Despite the © Canadian Military History Book Review Supplement, Spring 2007 1 Published by Scholars Commons @ Laurier, 2007 1 Canadian Military History, Vol. 16 [2007], Iss. 2, Art. 8 title and the photograph of an ech- She served at various hospitals, ior lieutenant-colonel, a graduate of elon of Spitfires on the front cover, including No. 4 British General West Point, and now he was in the ten of the twelve chapters deal with Hospital in France, No. 3 Canadian bag after firing only a few shots in men in Bomber Command, the Stationary Hospital on Lemnos Is- anger. But his war was far from other two are about fighter pilots, land in the Mediterranean, and No. over. When X Organization began and there is no mention of Trans- 44 Casualty Clearing Station in the operation to construct the three port Command, Coastal Command, France. In the latter hospital, she tunnels that would eventually cul- the British Commonwealth Air illustrated her experiences of at- minate in the Great Escape, Clark Training Plan, or air operations in tending to the wounded men, in- was made head of security, in the the Far East (all of which produced cluding a young German prisoner. inner circle of the escape leader- their fair share of unsung heroes, At first she detested the very idea ship. He continued to play a lead- courage, and daring). The book is of helping the enemy but, upon ership role after the USAAF POWs a good start, but perhaps a second looking at his terrified face, she were moved to a new camp in Sep- volume is in order. realized that “he was no longer a tember 1943, and when the prison- DR hated Hun, just a small wounded ers were marched away from the * * * * * boy without a friend on any side” advancing Russians in January (129). Eventually, the reality of nurs- 1945. Liberated in May 1945, Clark Katherine Wilson-Simmie, Lights ing sick, wounded, and shell- remained in the service, eventually Out!: The Memoir of Nursing Sis- shocked men took its toll on retiring as a lieutenant-general in ter Kate Wilson, Canadian Army Wilson, as her mental health started 1974. Medical Corps, 1915-1917 (Ot- to be affected by this environment Clark’s memoirs will be of in- tawa: CEF Books, 2004 [1981]), of death. Nevertheless, the book is terest to anyone who has followed $19.95 paper, 199 pages, ISBN 0- about Wilson’s life rather than the the story of the Great Escape, for 896979-27-0. death that surrounded her, and she he is one of the last survivors of X tends to focus on positive nostalgic Organization’s inner ring of top ndividual accounts of women at memories rather than the devasta- decision-makers. He has some Iwar are rare. This book by tion of war. unique insights into the personali- Katherine Wilson-Simmie on her LI ties involved and the plan that even- active duty during the First World * * * * * tually resulted in the escape of sev- War as a Canadian Nursing Sister enty-six Allied airmen, and relates in England, France, and Greece is Albert P. Clark, 33 Months as a them with the mixture of a fine addition to military literature. POW in Stalag Luft III: A World commonsense and cockiness for Following her discharge from the War II Airman Tells His Story which he was known in the camp. army, Wilson-Simmie used her di- (Golden, CO: Fulcrum Publishing, Perhaps more importantly, it ary to write a book for her chil- 2005), $17.95 US paper, 207 pages, should put to rest the hoary old dren as a souvenir. Upon learning ISBN 1-55591-536-1. myth that film-makers did violence that no books had been written by to the history by inserting Ameri- her fellow Nursing Sisters, in her There has long been a fiction that cans into the story of the Great own way she attempted to “provide Hollywood “Americanized” the story Escape. a clear picture of the life of a Cana- of the Great Escape to make it JFV dian Army Nursing Sister during more attractive to cinema-goers in the 1914-1918 World War” (7). the United States. In fact, as “Bub” * * * * * Lights Out! is the memoir of an Clark’s new autobiography makes Russell A. Hart, Clash of Arms: educated, strong-willed, deter- clear, American airmen were in- How the Allies Won in Normandy mined, and proud Anglican women. volved in every aspect of the escape (Norman: University of Oklahoma The book, written with an air of organization, some in senior posi- Press, 2004), $24.95 US paper, 488 confidence and formality, describes tions, and it was only their trans- pages, ISBN 0-8061-360-5-7. the Nursing Sisters’ wartime im- fer to a separate camp that kept pressions of hospitals, soldiers, the them from taking part in the escape. n excellent example of the “new environment in which they worked, Clark was one of the first mem- Amilitary history,” Clash of and their recreational activities. bers of the US Army Air Force to Arms: How the Allies Won in Nor- Bursting with patriotic pride reach Stalag Luft 3, downed on 22 mandy places an operational analy- and affected by the fervor of the July 1942 over the coast of France. sis of the campaign within the cul- time, Wilson enlisted in her home- He recalls being terribly embar- tural, economic, and political con- town of Owen Sound, Ontario.