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Onward, Dear Boys

A Family Memoir of the Great War
Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2014

About this book

The Bieler family's vast collection of wartime letters and photographs tell intimate, firsthand stories of five young brothers and their parents. In Onward, Dear Boys, Philippe Bieler skilfully weaves together his own voice with those of his grandparents, his father, and his uncles into a story of war, immigration, and family life.

Settling in the province of Quebec, then divided into French-speaking Catholics and English-speaking Anglicans, was a struggle for these devout, francophone Calvinists, but with the unexpected declaration of war in 1914 came an even greater challenge. In 1915 three of the five Bieler boys volunteered with the Princess Patricia Regiment, and in 1916 the fourth son followed. The eldest, Jean, became an assistant to Colonel Birkett, commander of the McGill-financed Canadian Hospital in Boulogne, and the second-eldest, Etienne, was promoted to lieutenant of an artillery brigade. The other two were privates who fought in battles including Sanctuary Wood, the Somme, Vimy, and Passchendaele, and in 1917, the fourth son, Philippe, died at the front. Upon their return to civilian life, the surviving brothers became leaders in government, science, and the arts : the eldest as Deputy Finance Director of the League of Nations, the second as a colleague of Sir Ernest Rutherford in the research of the atom, and the third as President of the Federation of Canadian Artists. The youngest, Jacques, who was too young to go to war, was an instigator of the CCF party, a precursor to the NDP.

Enlivened by a wealth of family archival material, Onward, Dear Boys is a poignant story of the experiences of war and its impact on a family of new Canadians during the first decades of the twentieth century.

Author / Editor information

Contributor: Philippe Bieler Philippe Bieler is an entrepreneur whose career focused on the restructuring of businesses in Canada, the US, and Europe. The author of Onward, Dear Boys: A Family Memoir of the Great War, he lives in Wales.

Reviews

"The integration of the Bieler boys' war experiences into their family's story makes for a sophisticated and exceptional narrative." Terry Copp, Department of History, Wilfrid Laurier University --- “A fascinating book that weaves together letters and memoirs, Onward, Dear Boys is a thoroughly enjoyable read and a significant addition to the relatively few Canadian firsthand accounts of the Great War.” Susan Mann, author of Margaret Macdonald: Imperial Daughter

Topics

  • Publicly Available

    Front Matter

    i
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    Contents

    vii
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    Abbreviations

    xi
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    Preface

    xiii
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    Onward 1908

    3
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    Quebec 1908 to 1914

    9
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    1914

    31
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    The Front January to July 1915

    37
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    Training August 1915 to January 1916

    51
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    The Salient February to May 1916

    77
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    Sanctuary Wood June to August 1916

    97
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    The Somme September to December 1916

    123
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    Crossroad January to March 1917

    137
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    War Relief 1915 to 1918

    153
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    Vimy April to June 1917

    165
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    Philippe July to October 1917

    185
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    Passchendaele October to December 1917

    211
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    Spring Offensive January to July 1918

    229
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    Anti-Submarine January to November 1918

    241
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    100 Days August to November 1918

    249
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    Homeward 1919

    259
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    Memorial

    271
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    Professional Challenge 1920 to 1950

    273
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    History

    293
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    Acknowledgments

    303
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    Illustration Credits

    305
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    Selected Bibliography

    307
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    Index

    309
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
July 12, 2023
eBook ISBN:
9780773596702
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
View content
https://doi.org/10.1515/9780773596702
eBook ISBN: 9780773596702
Audience(s) for this book
For universities and colleges of further and higher education
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