Red Soil!: A PEI Soldier's Life at the Front

J.L. Granatstein, distinguished research professor emeritus of history
at York University. He is the author of Who Killed Canadian History? and
co-author of The Canadian 100: The 100 Most Influential Canadians of the
20th Century, Prime Ministers: Ranking

Although more have been published in recent years, Canadian soldiers’
memoirs are still relatively few. The test of a good one is accuracy, a
good record of what happened and why, and an honest account of the
war’s impact on the individual and his family. A Thousand Shall Fall
(1998), Murray Peden’s superb account of his time in the RCAF stands
as a model.

Regrettably, Felix Perry’s account of his father’s service, a
memoir only because it is written in his father’s voice, fails the
critical test: accuracy. A Prince Edward Island farmer, Felix Perry Sr,
joined up and went to Italy as a reinforcement with the West Nova Scotia
Regiment of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division. Somehow, the author has
Perry joining the 3rd Division—which was in England—and making an
assault landing on the Italian coast, something that never occurred. To
say that this calls into doubt everything else in the book does not
overstate matters, in substantial part because there are clearly few
documentary sources or detailed letters. Chronology wobbles in places,
and while there are some poignant stories, the whole is gracelessly
told. This memoir unfortunately ought not to have been printed, at least
not in its present form. Filial duty does not in itself make a book.