Red Connelly and the Luck of the Irish

A powerful look at what war really does to body and soul in this epic novel about an Irish Canadian in England, France and Flanders in the Great War of 1914-1918. Every action described took place, every military unit in the Canadian Corps is accurately placed in the field at the correct dates; strategies are discussed; details of weapons and uniforms and rations and even cigarettes are all historically correct. Every place mentioned is also accurately described, including the terrain and the flora and the structures that were in place in the various villages and towns during the war years. The characters are all based on real people, including the author's father and two uncles who served as lieutenants. His father was four times wounded, suffered the rest of his life. One of the uncles died when his Royal Flying Corps Sopwith Camel was shot down in flames. The author himself experienced the 1940 Dunkirk evacuation as a boy living in a beautiful village on the Sussex coast, and in his backyard saw the first German plane shot down at the beginning of the Battle of Britain. As a very young Canadian soldier later he suffered the horrors of artillery and trench warfare in the hills of Korea. He holds Canada's Meritorious Service Medal for his work with veterans, and Korea's Order of Civic Merit.