Five stories about local veterans are told in a new collection of 28 compelling interviews by bestselling author Elinor Florence, formerly of rural North Battleford.
Pictured on the cover of the book titled My Favourite Veterans: True Stories From World War Two’s Hometown Heroes is James (Stocky) Edwards of Battleford and his wife Toni on their wedding day. Stocky Edwards is now Canada’s oldest living fighter ace, and a member of the Order of Canada. The couple retired to Comox, B.C. where they still live in their own home.
Journalist Elinor Florence began her career at theBattlefords Advertiser-Postbefore moving on to newspapers across Western Canada. She now lives in Invermere, B.C.
She began interviewing veterans about 10 years ago during the research for her wartime novel, Bird’s Eye View, about a farm girl from Saskatchewan who is inspired to join the Royal Canadian Air Force when her town becomes a British Commonwealth Air Training base. The heroine travels overseas to England where she works as an interpreter of aerial photographs.
Elinor was inspired by the fact that North Battleford was an air-training base during the war. It was such a large training base that two relief airports were established to handle the overflow, at Hamlin and Brada.
After the war, Elinor’s father Douglas Florence returned from his service overseas with the Royal Canadian Air Force, and purchased the Brada airport from the Department of National Defence before turning it into a farm.
A barracks building on the property was cut into two pieces – one piece was moved into North Battleford and became the Mennonite Church, and the other piece became the Florence family home. The farm is now owned by Elinor’s brother Rob Florence and his son Andrew.
Included in the book is the story of the Ballendine brothers of Battleford. Not only were James and John Ballendine crack snipers in the First World War, John went on to have eight sons with his wife Marie Ouellette. All eight boys served in uniform during the Second World War. Their youngest sister Doreen Gilles still lives in Battleford.
The author also drew on her own family background to write stories about her grandfather Charles Light, former Battleford postmaster, and his brother Jack, both of whom fought in Lord Strathcona’s Horse during the First World War.
And she tells the tragic tale of her uncle Alan Light, who was training to become a pilot with the Royal Canadian Air Force. He died when his aircraft struck a ferry cable over the South Saskatchewan River at Hague.
Another sad tale involves Max Cassidy, a young Australian pilot who was training here when he crashed his aircraft near Delmas and died. He is buried in the North Battleford City Cemetery.
And of course, the author tells the tale of her own father, Douglas Florence, who grew up in Richard and served in Ottawa, Ont., England and India during the war.
The other 23 are about veterans from other parts of Canada. All are available to read online at no charge, through the author’s blog called Wartime Wednesdays at www.elinorflorence.com/blog. You can visit the link on the News-Optimistwebsite, listed under Editorial-Columnists. http://www.newsoptimist.ca/opinion/columnists/wartime-wednesdays-1.2166042.
The author said she decided to create a printed version for people who still prefer to read books, and because some of her older readers don’t own computers.
“After hashing over many possible titles, I finally decided to call it My Favourite Veterans because that’s what it is, a collection of my favourite stories about my favourite people.”
The book is larger than an average paperback, measuring seven by 10 inches. It has 256 pages, with more than 100 photographs. It is easy to read, with a larger than normal print for seniors.
There are two ways to purchase the book. You may order a signed copy directly from the author by calling her at 250-342-1621 or emailing elinor1@telus.net.
You may also order online at Amazon.ca.
Elinor’s wartime novel Bird’s Eye View, published by Dundurn Press in 2014, was recently listed as a national bestseller by both The Globe and Mailand The Toronto Star. Signed copies are available here at Crandleberry’s, Nutter’s, the Fred Light Museum and the Western Development Museum.
