EBOOK
About
During the Second World War, hundreds of children were sent from the UK to stay with family and friends in Canada as "war guests." This book collects the letters of one such war guest, young W.A.B (Alec) Douglas, who wrote from his wartime home in Toronto to his mother back home in London.
Alec wrote home every week, although sometimes he forgot to post his letters, and they were delayed, and some letters did not get through. Occasionally his godmother and host, Mavis Fry, would add comments and write her own more detailed letters. Also included are letters from Lillian Kingston, who brought Alec to North America in 1940.
This is a story of exposure, at an impressionable age, to ocean passage in wartime, the sights and sounds of New York, the totally new and unfamiliar world of Canada, the wonderful excitement of passage home in a Woolworth Aircraft Carrier as a "Guest of the Admiralty," and his eventful return to a world he had left behind three years before.
A War Guest in Canada includes a foreword by Cynthia Comacchio and an introduction by Roger Sarty. A collection of letters from Londoner W.A.B. (Alec) Douglas, a child war guest in Canada between 1940 and 1943, to his mother back home. Details the excitement of the voyage and his years in Toronto with the Fry family.
• Accepting children from war zones is a highly topical subject
• Rare firsthand account of evacuated child
• "war guests" popular subject for fiction but very little non-fiction on the subject with respect to Canada. Fiction titles include Guests of War series by Kit Pearson and Dear Canada: Exiles from the War, by Jean Little
• strong interest for World War personal stories
• Douglas a well-known author of military histories (1970s and 1980s)
Table of Contents
Preface, by Cynthia Comacchio
Introduction: The Careers of W.A.B. Douglas: Sailor and Historian, by Roger Sarty
A War Guest in Canada, 1940–1943
1. Introduction
2. August 1940: Arrival in Toronto
3. September–October 1940: School!
4. October–December 1940: Canadian Thanksgiving and Halloween
5. December 1940–March 1941: First Canadian Christmas and Winter
6. April–August 1941
7. September–December 1941
8. January–September 1942: The Farm, Summer Camp, and New Experiences
9. October–December 1942
10. January–July 1943: Last Months in Canada
11. July–August 1943: Return to England
12. 1943–1947: Transition from a War Guest to a Canadian
Alec wrote home every week, although sometimes he forgot to post his letters, and they were delayed, and some letters did not get through. Occasionally his godmother and host, Mavis Fry, would add comments and write her own more detailed letters. Also included are letters from Lillian Kingston, who brought Alec to North America in 1940.
This is a story of exposure, at an impressionable age, to ocean passage in wartime, the sights and sounds of New York, the totally new and unfamiliar world of Canada, the wonderful excitement of passage home in a Woolworth Aircraft Carrier as a "Guest of the Admiralty," and his eventful return to a world he had left behind three years before.
A War Guest in Canada includes a foreword by Cynthia Comacchio and an introduction by Roger Sarty. A collection of letters from Londoner W.A.B. (Alec) Douglas, a child war guest in Canada between 1940 and 1943, to his mother back home. Details the excitement of the voyage and his years in Toronto with the Fry family.
• Accepting children from war zones is a highly topical subject
• Rare firsthand account of evacuated child
• "war guests" popular subject for fiction but very little non-fiction on the subject with respect to Canada. Fiction titles include Guests of War series by Kit Pearson and Dear Canada: Exiles from the War, by Jean Little
• strong interest for World War personal stories
• Douglas a well-known author of military histories (1970s and 1980s)
Table of Contents
Preface, by Cynthia Comacchio
Introduction: The Careers of W.A.B. Douglas: Sailor and Historian, by Roger Sarty
A War Guest in Canada, 1940–1943
1. Introduction
2. August 1940: Arrival in Toronto
3. September–October 1940: School!
4. October–December 1940: Canadian Thanksgiving and Halloween
5. December 1940–March 1941: First Canadian Christmas and Winter
6. April–August 1941
7. September–December 1941
8. January–September 1942: The Farm, Summer Camp, and New Experiences
9. October–December 1942
10. January–July 1943: Last Months in Canada
11. July–August 1943: Return to England
12. 1943–1947: Transition from a War Guest to a Canadian