Onward - by Patrick H Brennan (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

This is the story of the King's Own Calgary Regiment. Beginning in the last years of collective innocence before the Great War, it follows the regiment to Vimy Ridge, through the short years of peace to Dieppe and the Italian Campaign, through the establishment and maintenance of militia and reserve forces, and into the Cold War.

Onward is a soldier's story: mundane, heroic and tragic. This book explores not only the actions of the regiment but also the efforts of civilians to become warriors, to maintain their ties to home during the rigours of war, and the often-rocky return to civilian life. It explores peacetime, when the regiment struggled to maintain active reserves with aging equipment and minimal support. It places the King's Own Calgary Regiment within the context of Canada's army, tracing its relationships with brigade mates, supporting artillery and engineers to provide a complete and fascinating history.

Regimental history does not begin with the first shot of a battle, nor does the story end when the fighting stops. Onward is a thoroughly researched and captivating chronicle of the Kings Own Calgary Regiment and its soldiers in peace and war.

Review Quotes

Brennan . . . sets out his aim: to detail the King's Own Calgary Regiment's actions in war and its survival in peacetime, to note the leaders, the followers, the brave, and the rank and file, but also to broaden the story to show the connections of the soldiers to their hometowns and their families that flowed back and forth. Many other regimental histories have tried to do this, but none have done it so well.--J.L. Granatstein, Literary Review of Canada