Author Description

Military historian Ted Barris recounts the wartime stories of Canadians who celebrated VE Day on May 8, 1945. On May 8, 1945 -- VE Day -- the Germans finally capitulated -- in Holland and across Europe. Celebrations swept the Continent. For Canadians, the festivities also spilled into the streets of cities and towns back home. It was a sweet day and a bitter one for millions of people whose lives had been changed forever by nearly six years of global war. This volume of wartime reminiscences carries the reader from the early days -- when Canadians in combat and at home experienced more trials than triumphs -- to the ultimate march to victory that began in Italy and Normandy, and culminated on VE and VJ Day more than a year later. Here are the stories of countless average volunteers, some of whom became well known after the war. Among these are war correspondents Ross Munro and J.D. MacFarlane; broadcasters Marcel Ouimet and Clyde Gilmour; seamen Dave Broadfoot and Scott Young; air crew Buzz Beurling and Marion Orr; and army troops Denis Whitaker and Richard Malone -- as well as homegrown entertainers such as Fred Davis, Victor Feldbrill, and comedians Wayne and Shuster. From interviews, research, and images originally gathered by father-and-son writing team Alex and Ted Barris -- bestselling author Ted Barris has broadened the contents of the initial volume to include stories of Canadian heroism in the Pacific war, accounts of Canadian war correspondents battling to beat the censors, and more first-hand impressions of the liberation of Italy, France, Belgium, Denmark -- and finally Holland. Days of Victory records the voices of the generation that gave the world a second chance.