The longest continual battle of the Second World War

By MPP Toby Barrett

I grew up on war stories. Both my father and grandfather signed up in the fall of 1939 when Canada declared war on Germany.

My father spent his war years on the North Atlantic, doing convoy duty in the longest continual battle of the Second World War — a battle in which Canada played a central role.

In his book, The Navy and Me, Harry B. Barrett described the lives of thousands of young men and women of his generation who answered the call to arms: “We grew up in a hurry. We went where we were told to go, and did what we were told to do without question. Dire consequences followed if you did not. Your fate was in the hands of the military; your life was no longer yours to do with as you wished.”