wildbillsdreamscape

Finished reading an outstanding novel of WWII called The Widow and Her Hero by Thomas Keneally (2007), which deals with the true life commando mission “Rimau” (Malay for tiger), made by Australian Special Forces and British troops against Japanese held Singapore. Great book, tragic mission and it appears over time that the facts behind the loss of the men was a high level command decision to sacrifice them. The story by Keneally looks at men’s heroism and the emotional evolution of the women who survive them. It is the story of a war time marriage, the mission, and the long life of the widow who over time learns more about her husband’s final mission and execution by the Japanese. It’s a great novel based on a tragic truth.

Wikipedia article on Operation Rimau.

Keneally is best known for the Booker Prize-winning Schindler’s Ark. He is one of my favourite authors.

Finished reading this detailed account of the battles of Sicily and Italy. It was a difficult read, not because of Atkinson’s style but because of the content. The incredible waste and suffering of so many soldiers and civilians. I had prior to reading this book only a sketchy idea of the Italian campaign. Growing up in Toronto, my next door neighbour was a Canadian Combat Engineer Major who I believe had been in Italy during the war. I thought of him often while reading this book. Highly recommended.

Churchill Tank WW II heavy tank

Originally uploaded by “canuckshutterer” wj gibson.

Today I revisited the museum at Canadian Forces Base Borden, west of Barrie, Ontario, Canada…..part of my remembrance of those who gave their lives.

I am part way through rereading this exceptional trilogy set in World War One. I have read Regeneration and am just started The Eye in the Door. For those who have not read these three novels (The Ghost Road, winner of the 1995 Booker Prize, is the final novel), you should. Regeneration begins with the Declaration that the war must stop – made by Siegfried Sassoon, decorated army officer and poet and his treatment for psychological damage from his time in combat. Dr. Rivers, like Sassoon a real-life figure, is another central character, who struggles with the Army and its attitudes, the difficulty of treatment, the moral question of treating men in order to help them and then to send them back in many cases to combat. Barker’s style is lean, effective, emotion-based. I am glad I hung on to my copies of her three novels and that I am now re-reading them. One detail that has always stuck in my brain, the yellow complexions of the young and old women working in the munitions plants.  I suppose it has something to do with the memory of my mother telling me that she worked in a munitions plant in Montreal making 20mm shells during the Second World War.