Peewees on Parade: Wartime Memories of a Young (and Small) Soldier

J.L. Granatstein, Distinguished Research Professor of History Emeritus,
York University, served as Director of the Canadian War Museum from 1998
to 2000. He is the author of Who Killed Canadian History? and coauthor
of The Canadian 100: The 100 Most Influ

In the last 10 years or so, there has been a small flood of Canadian
wartime memoirs. After long years of silence, the men and women who
fought and won World War II are at last starting to tell their stories.
This is undoubtedly important, for today’s Canadians can scarcely
conceive of a time when their nation once put 1.1 million men and women
in uniform to fight for freedom.

John Galipeau’s memoir is a worthy addition to the list. A small man,
Galipeau enlisted in the South Alberta Regiment and joined a platoon
made up of other “peewees.” His story traces his and the
regiment’s history from training in a number of different camps in
Canada, to Britain, and in the summer of 1944 to France. The South
Albertas, serving in the Fourth Canadian Armoured Division, were thrust
by fate into a critical role in the closing of the Falaise Gap in August
1944 and Galipeau’s account adds a few nuggets. But mainly, his story
is a chronicle, a record of what he and his regiment did month by month
in a long war. He talks about uniforms and equipment, officers and
training, comradeship in action, and love and longing. This is a fine
memoir, published by Robin Brass Studio, the country’s best publisher
of military history.