Through Footless Halls of Air: The Stories of a Few of the Many Who Failed to Return

Dean F. Oliver is a postdoctoral fellow at the Norman Paterson School of
International Affairs.

This handsome and well-written book chronicles the lives of six
Atlantic-Canadian air force personnel who died during World War II in
the service of their country. The account is deeply personal (its author
having lost two brothers to the air war) and was conceived originally as
a family history. It was expanded to its finished form, Williston
relates, after he realized the extent to which one family’s sacrifice
appeared insignificant when compared to those of the many thousands who
shouldered similar burdens. Thus, while the book remains firmly rooted
in family and local history, it now encompasses the entire Atlantic
region in its handful of mini-biographies.

Each story begins with the subject’s wartime exploits, then returns
to his prewar life and attempts to retrace the events leading to his
final—and fatal—air operation. Each chapter is readable, dramatic,
and filled with personal and military-technical detail. For example, the
chapter on Squadron Leader Norman R. Fowlow begins with a discussion of
his part in the Battle of Malta in 1942 (where he was shot down and
wounded); it then proceeds through his convalescence, early life in
Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, posting to Malta, subsequent military
career, and “final flight.” The chapter chronologies are thus
slightly jumbled, but the style is nevertheless quite effective: the
reader is first drawn into the dangerous world of mortal combat and then
eased through the more mundane aspects of the subject’s life.

Through Footless Halls of Air is a timely reminder that the Canadian
legend is far from dull and that the cold statistics of academic texts
and official records conceal and distort the tragedy of war in dangerous
and unfortunate ways. These young lives, sadly extinguished in the
conflagration unleashed by Hitler, Mussolini, and the Japanese
militarists, are a part of our shared experience. Floyd Williston has
done well to call them once again, after 50 years, to our attention.