Good God, How Gorgeous!

Sidney Allinson is Canadian news correspondent for Britain’s The Army
Quarterly and Defence. He is the author of The Bantams: The Untold Story
of World War I, Jeremy Kane, and Kruger’s Gold: A Novel of the
Anglo-Boer War.

Copulation and combat get equal emphasis in this memoir by a World War
II Canadian army officer, Robert Irwin, who recalls numerous amorous
encounters and violent battle experiences. As he states at the
beginning, his intention is to depict Canadian soldiers as something
other than cardboard figures with few emotions or physical needs. He
warns us that his sexual escapades may seem startling, then proceeds to
tell us about satisfying so many eager females in every country he
visited during five wartime years that one wonders how he found time and
energy for the serious business of soldiering he also proved to be good
at.

After obtaining a commission as second lieutenant in the prestigious
Governor General’s Horse Guards in 1941, Irwin seems to have had what
could be called “a good war.” He provides interesting details of
military training before his unit went overseas, interspersed with a
series of sexual hijinks. Though his breezy style of writing never
changes, his subject matter gets far grimmer after the regiment wades
into battle in Italy. He vividly recounts many harrowing incidents of
brave men in fierce combat, and even a couple who were not so brave.

One telling indication of Irwin’s determination is that after he was
wounded for the third time, he stayed with the Governor General’s
Horse Guards when the unit was moved to take part in the battle for
Northwest Europe. Clearly not incapacitated by his injuries, he
continued to enjoy the favors of new lady friends until war’s end.