Testaments Of Honour

Testaments of Honour was born by chance. Blake Heathcote had set out to archive his grandfather's wartime scrapbooks and sketches, only to realize what a treasure the documents were. He decided to set out in his car to record the memories of other World War II veterans across Canada before it was too late. Over several years Heathcote contacted hundreds of veterans from the so-called Silent Generation, men and women who had never told their stories before, often not even to their own families. Many had come back dramatically changed, unable to communicate with loved ones. "Sometimes," Heathcote writes, "it took fifty years for them to come out again." The book's intensity comes from the fact that Heathcote lets the veterans tell their stories in the first person, full of bravery, humour, and tragedy. Much has been written about how the courage of the wartime generation transformed Canada from a small rural society into one of the world's main armed powers. But if there is a unifying thread in Heathcote's book, it is that war is a horrifying thing that must be avoided at all costs. "I would advise my sons not to ever get involved in a war, because politicians control it," says Joe Gelleny of Aurora, Ontario, who was an elite commando trained to jump from a plane, kill silently, and withstand terrible torture. John Stroud of Toronto, who was captured by the Japanese in Hong Kong in 1941, says, "I still have nightmares; most of us do. You can't get it out of your brain. There's no heroism in war; there's nothing but grief." In bringing together such voices, most never heard before, Blake Heathcote has made a valuable contribution to the literature of war. --Alex RoslinReview"Tears fill my eyes as I think of these men and women, and read their stories in this volume. Thank you to them from the bottom of my heart, and thank you to Blake Heathcote for his remarkable service to posterity, to truth and to Canada." -- Toronto Sun"Compelling." -- Maclean's"An absorbing read." -- London Free Press"Devastatingly eloquent." -- Calgary Herald"An invaluable record." -- Quill & Quire"Inspiring... powerful." -- Edmonton Journal"An astonishingly touching book." -- Ottawa Citizen

In the tradition of Tom Brokaw's "The Greatest Generation" and the bestselling "Flags of Our Fathers," Blake Heathcote brings together stirring and fascinating first-hand accounts from the Canadian military personnel who fought in the Second World War. Each interview in "Testaments of Honour: Personal Histories of Canada's War Veterans" begins with the question: "Why did you go?" In answering this question, history comes alive in the words and memorabilia of the veterans themselves, and through then-and-now photographs. These stories are undeniably powerful: a bomber relives the terror of his night-blind raids and the controversy of some of his attacks; one prisoner of war describes the unlikely friendship that developed between a German soldier and two of his Canadian prisoners. In every case, veterans detail their war years not to entertain or remember, but to understand themselves and be understood by others. In the words of our veterans -- their memories and their unspoken courage -- we see a mirror of who we are as a nation. ""Canadian Veterans understand that life is a gift. They know this because they were given the chance to marry, to raise families, and build careers, when those who stood next to them in battle had these possibilities denied them. Our vets know what their lives cost and that to be Canadian means to have been given the boon of selfless determination. They also know that each of us is living on mortgaged time, because the men and women of their generation left their own lives to put their community and country first. We owe our veterans a debt. As you read these stories, look up from your own life and remember those who made it possible." -- From the Introduction to" Testaments of Honour

John Goldingay is one of the most prolific and creative Old Testament scholars working today. In this book he draws on the best of biblical scholarship as well as the Christian tradition to offer a substantive and useful commentary on Joshua. The commentary is both critically engaged and sensitive to the theological contributions of the text. Goldingay treats Joshua as an ancient Israelite document that speaks to twenty-first-century Christians. He examines the text section by section--offering a fresh translation, textual notes, paragraph-level commentary, and theological reflection--and addresses important issues and problems that flow from the text and its discussion. This volume, the first in a new series on the Historical Books, complements other Baker Commentary on the Old Testament series: Pentateuch, Wisdom and Psalms, and Prophets. Each series volume is grounded in rigorous scholarship but is useful for those who preach and teach. The series editors are David G. Firth (Trinity College, Bristol) and Lissa M. Wray Beal (Wycliffe College, University of Toronto).