Courage on the Battlefield: Canada's Military Heritage, Vol. 2

Sidney Allinson is a Victoria-based communications consultant, Canadian
news correspondent for Britain’s The Army Quarterly and Defence, and
author of The Bantams: The Untold Story of World War I.

Courage remains one of the most universally admired of human virtues, on
or off the battlefield. This book, the second of a planned three-volume
set, offers further true-life examples of bravery by several hundred
Canadians involved in world conflicts in the period 1812 to 1953.

Arthur Bishop has close personal knowledge of military valor; he was a
Spitfire pilot in World War II and is the son of Canada’s most
decorated World War I hero, “Billy” Bishop, V.C. He makes it clear
that this compendium can be selective only, representative of literally
thousands of Canadian soldiers whose stories warrant being told.
However, he has chosen his examples well, giving brief accounts of the
battle circumstances.

One is struck by the diversity of backgrounds found among these
Canadian soldiers. Nearly all were military amateurs who left quiet
civilian lives to fight in their country’s cause. Though some
19th-century conflicts are included, participants in the two world wars
dominate the book. Together these stories remind us that the price of
peace today was courage in yesterday’s wars.