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John Boileau and Dan Black tell the stories of some of the 30,000
underage youths - some as young as fourteen - who joined the
Canadian Armed Forces in the Second World War. This is the
companion volume to the authors'' popular 2013 book Old Enough to
Fight about boy soldiers in the First World War. Like their
predecessors a generation before, these boys managed to enlist
despite their youth. Most went on to face action overseas in what
would become the deadliest military conflict in human history. They
enlisted for a myriad of personal reasons -- ranging from the
appeal of earning regular pay after the unemployment and poverty of
the Depression to the desire to avenge the death of a brother or
father killed overseas. Canada's boy soldiers, sailors and airmen
saw themselves contributing to the war effort in a visible,
meaningful way, even when that meant taking on very adult risks and
dangers of combat. Meticulously researched and extensively
illustrated with photographs, personal documents and specially
commissioned maps, Too Young to Die provides a touching and
fascinating perspective on the Canadian experience in the Second
World War. Among the individuals whose stories are told: Ken Ewing,
at age sixteen taken prisoner at Hong Kong and then a teenager in a
Japanese prisoner of war camp Ralph Frayne, so determined to fight
that he enlisted in the army, navy and Merchant Navy all before the
age of seventeen Robert Boulanger, at age eighteen the youngest
Canadian to die on the Dieppe beaches
Between 15,000 and 20,000 underage youths, some as young as ten,
signed up to fight in Canada's armed forces in the First World War.
They served in the trenches alongside their elders, and fought in
all the major battles: Ypres, the Somme, Passchendaele, Vimy Ridge,
and the rest. Many were injured or suffered psychological wounds.
Many died. This is the first book to tell their story. Some boys
joined up to escape unhappy homes and workplaces. Others went with
their parents' blessing, carrying letters from fathers and mothers
asking the recruiters to take their eager sons. The romantic notion
of a short, victorious campaign was wiped out the second these boys
arrived on the Western Front. The authors, who narrate the fighting
with both military professionalism and humanity, portray many boys
who, in the heat of battle, made a seamless transition from
follower to leader to hero. Authors Dan Black and John Boileau
combed the archives and collections to bring these stories to life.
Passages from letters the boy soldiers wrote home reveal the range
of emotions and experiences they underwent, from the humorous to
the unspeakably horrible. Their parents' letters touch us with
their concern, love, uncertainty, and often, grief. Meticulously
researched and abundantly illustrated with photographs, paintings,
and a collection of specially commissioned maps, Old Enough to
Fight is military and social history at its most fascinating.
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