Canada's Boy Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen in the Second World War
JOHN BOILEAU and DAN BLACK tell the stories of some of the estimated 30,000 underage youths--some as young as fourteen--who joined the Canadian military in the Second World War. Like their predecessors a generation before, these boys managed to enlist despite their age and most went on to face action overseas in what would become the deadliest military conflict in human history. Meticulously researched and extensively illustrated with archival photographs, personal documents and specially commissioned maps, Too Young To Die is a touching and fascinating perspective on the Canadian experience in the Second World War.
Private Jim Parks was a breath away from drowning.
He could not find anything to grab onto in the grey swells off Normandy, France. Sliding up and over waves more than two metres high, Parks saw dust and black smoke rising against a heavy overcast sky. The young soldier from the Royal Winnipeg Rifles was trying to orient himself when he was nearly sideswiped by a Landing Craft Assault (LCA) that had survived the shelling and underwater mines. The vessel's wake crashed over his head and propelled him downward. "This is it," he thought. "I'm going to die," without ever having set foot on Juno Beach.