Ted Barris

Deadlock in Korea: Canadians at War, 1950-1953

Thomas Allen Publishers, May 2010

ISBN 9780-0-88762-528-2

Politicians called it a “police action.” The Canadian working volunteers who went to Korea to fight the Communists remember it as a bitter, grinding shooting war.

In the summer of 1950, thousands of Canadians – some veterans of the Second World War and regular army servicemen as well as adventure-seekers, unemployed and even some in trouble with the law – eagerly signed on for a UN-sponsored mission to stop the Communist foray into South Korea. They joined a forty-eight-nation, U.S.-led expeditionary force that quickly found itself embroiled not in a “police action,” but a full-scale hot war.

Ted Barris interviewed hundreds of Korean War veterans to then retell their stories of heroism and survival, tragedy and absurdity, successful operations and total snafus.

The Korean War was the first explosion in cold war between the USSR and the US after 1945. Canadian air force, naval and infantry volunteers were among the first to join the defence of South Korea. They etched locations such as Chinnampo, Kap’yong, Chail-li and Kowang-san onto the list of notable Canadian battlegrounds. Then, after twelve months that saw U.N. troops fighting up and down the Korean peninsula and drew Communist China into the conflict, the war settled into a bloody stalemate in the mud and cold around the 38th parallel.

Deadlock in Korea tells the stories of the men who fought in Korea, giving this war – that cost Canada more than a thousand casualties and was virtually ignored back home – its rightful place in Canadian history.

The book was a national best-seller on both the Maclean’s magazine and National Post top-ten lists in 1999-2000; and it has been officially recognized as the official history of Canadians at war in Korea by the Korea Veterans Association of Canada (Barris was made an honourary member of the KVA).

Breaking the Silence: Veterans’ Untold Stories from the Great War to Afghanistan

Thomas Allen Publishers
October 3, 2009

ISBN-10: 0-88762-465-0

“Never talked about it.”

That’s what most people say when they’re asked if the veteran in the family ever shared wartime experiences. Describing combat, imprisonment or lost comrades from the World Wars, the Korea War, or even Afghanistan is reserved for Remembrance Day or the Legion lounge. Nobody was ever supposed to see them get emotional, show their vulnerability. Nobody was ever to know the hell of their war.

About 25 years ago, Ted Barris began breaking through the silence. Because of his unique interviewing skills, he found that veterans would talk to him, set the record straight and put a face on the service and sacrifice of men and women in uniform. As a result of his work on 15 previous books, Barris has earned a reputation of trust among Canada’s veterans. Indeed, over the years, nearly 3,000 of them have shared their memories, all offering original material for his books.

Among other revelations in Breaking the Silence, veterans of the Great War reflect on an extraordinary first Armistice in 1918; decorated Second World War fighter pilots talk about their thirst for blood in the sky; Canadian POWs explain how they survived Chinese attempts to brainwash them during the Korean War; and soldiers with the Afghanistan mission talk about the horrors of the “friendly fire” incident near Kandahar.

Breaking the Silence is a ground-breaking book that goes to the heart of veterans’ war-time experiences.

Victory at Vimy, Canada Comes of Age: April 9-12, 1917

Thomas Allen Publishers
January 26, 2007

ISBN-10: 0-88762-253-4

From the author of JUNO: Canadians at D-Day, June 6, 1944, comes a new book about the Famous Canadian Victory at Vimy Ridge.

At the height of the First World War, on Easter Monday April 9, 1917, in early morning sleet, forty-nine battalions of the Canadian Corps rose along a nine-mile line of trenches in northern France against the occupying Germans. All four Canadian divisions advanced in a line behind a well-rehearsed creeping barrage of artillery fire. By nightfall, the Germans had suffered a major setback. The Ridge, which other Allied troops had assaulted previously and failed to take, was firmly in Canadian hands.

It was the first time Canadians had fought as a distinct national army, and in many ways it was a coming of age for the nation. Based on first-hand accounts, like JUNO: Canadians at D-Day, Ted Barris paints a compelling and surprising human picture of what it was like to have stormed and taken Vimy Ridge.

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Behind the Glory, Canada’s Role in the Allied Air War

Thomas Allen Publishers
October 14, 2005

ISBN 0-88762-212-7

In this 60th Anniversary edition is Ted Barris’ telling of the unique story of Canada’s largest World War Two expenditure – $1.75 billion in a Commonwealth-wide training scheme, based in Canada that supplied the Allied air war with nearly a quarter of a million qualified airmen.

Within its five-year life-span, the BCATP supplied a continuous flow of battle-ready pilots, navigators, wireless radio operators, air gunners, flight engineers, riggers and fitters or more commonly known as ground crew, principally for the RCAF and RAF as well as the USAAF.

While the story of so many men graduating from the most impressive air training scheme in history is compelling enough, Ted Barris offers the untold story of the instructors – the men behind the glory – who taught those airmen the vital air force trades that ensure Allied victory over Europe, North Africa and the Pacific. In Winston Churchill swords, the BCATP proved “the decisive factor” in winning the Second World War.

This 60th Anniversary edition arrives as Canada continues to celebrate 2005 as the Year of the Veteran. Ted Barris interviewed more than 200 instructors and using their anecdotes and viewpoints he recounts the story of the flyers who coped with the dangers of training missions and the frustration of fighting the war thousands of miles away from the front without losing their enthusiasm for flying.

Days of Victory, Canadians Remember 1939-1945

Thomas Allen Publishers
March 12, 2005

ISBN 0-88762-175-9

When the German capitulation in Europe came on May 8 – VE Day – celebrations swept the continent. Festivities also spilled into the streets of Halifax, Ottawa, Sudbury, Regina, and Vancouver back home. It was a sweet day and a bitter one for millions of people whose lives had been changed forever by nearly six years of global war.

This volume of wartime remembrance carries the reader from the early days of the Second World War – through the struggles in western Europe, Italy, and Hong Kong to the Canadians’ ultimate march to victory that began on D-Day in 1944 and culminated in VE and VJ Day, more than a year later.

From interviews, research, and images originally gathered by father and son writing team Alex and Ted Barris, best-selling author Ted Barris has broadened this revised edition to include stories of Canadian heroism in the Pacific war, accounts of Canadian war correspondents battling to beat the censors, more first-hand impressions from the Canadians who liberated Europe – and from the civilians they liberated in Italy, France, Belgium, Denmark, and finally Holland. On the eve of the 60th anniversary of VE Day this book gives voice to that generation who won the world a second chance.

The Days of Victory text is enhanced by 32 pages of personal/archival photographs and maps.

Juno, Canadians at D-Day, June 6, 1944

Thomas Allen Publishers
January 24, 2004

ISBN 0-88762-133-3

On June 6, 1944, nearly 15,000 Canadians – at sea, in the air, and on the ground – joined the long-anticipated D-Day invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe on the Normandy beaches. The piece of ground on which the Canadians fought so hard against heavily armed and embedded German troops was codenamed Juno. On that day, the Canadian infantry fought their way farther inland than any other Allied troops. For Canada, and all Canadians, this was a coming of age, an extraordinary moment of courage and sacrifice.

On the eve of the 6oth anniversary of D-Day, Barris takes us back to those momentous few hours that forever changed the course of our history in the voices of those who were there. In what might be described as Canada’s longest day, we follow the course of action hour by hour, minute by minute, as we meet and follow the soldiers who leapt off landing craft into the shallow waters off Normandy, who were strafed by machinegun fire before they could even reach shore. We meet the airmen who flew fighters and bombers in the early hours of the summer morning, as well as the sailors who manned the guns of the ships offshore.

Ted Barris has interviewed hundreds of veterans to piece together one of Canada’s proudest days, and one of the most significant battles of our time.

Making Music, Profiles from a Century of Canadian Music

HarperCollins
2001

Hardcover ISBN 0-00-200056-3
Softcover ISBN 0-00-639163

Bryan Adams · Susan Aglukark · Blue Rodeo · Glenn Gould · Oscar Peterson · k.d. lang · Ben Heppner · Guess Who · Guy Lombardo · Diana Krall · Healy Willan · Neil Young.

Making Music celebrates 200 remarkable Canadian musical artists – including the above – who have entertained audiences at home and around the world from the early 20th century to the present day.

Written by father and son veteran broadcast journalists Alex Barris and Ted Barris, Making Music offers much more than standard biographical entries. It is a showcase of the duo’s combined 80 years of show business experience. Their thousands of interviews and proximity to musical artists have given them an incredible store of anecdotes – and insights – into the greats of Canadian classical, jazz, opera, big band, folk, rock, country and alternative music. With more than 150 photographs, Making Music is a must-have reference for Canadian music fans.

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Canada and Korea: Perspectives 2000

University of Toronto Press
May 13, 2000

ISBN 0-7727-7450-1

Ted Barris (contributor), “The War that History Forgot”
R.W.L. Guisso and Young-Sik Yoo (co-editors)

Canada established formal diplomatic relations with the Republic of Korea in 1963 and with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea early in the year 2001.

Canada’s relationship with the Korean peninsula, however, is much older than that. Canadian missionaries, beginning with the Reverend J.S. Gale in 1888, established a proud tradition of evangelization and contributed significantly to Korean modernization in such fields as education, medicine, agriculture and technology, evn during the Japanese occupation.

After the Korean War, Canada-ROK ties became closer with the exchange of state visits and the growth of bilateral trade. And Korean emigrants, in increasing numbers, enrich the Canadian mosaic.

The articles in this volume, all by distinguished scholars, explore the various facets of the Korean-Canadian relationship, both past and present. The cover design depicts the beginning of the relationship with pictures of J.S. Gale and the Korean counterpart, Yun Chi-ho, who first set foot on Canadian soil in 1893.

Deadlock in Korea, Canadians at War 1950-1953

Macmillan Canada
January 28, 2000

Hardcover ISBN 0-7715-7591-2
Softcover ISBN 0-7715-7675-7

“We are being attacked by a major Chinese force. We will hold our positions. We will fight to the end.”

November 23, 1951. Members of the Royal 22nd Regiment – the Vandoos – were dug in around the base of Hill 355 on the front lines in Korea. This strategic height had been won by the allies in October. The enemy wanted it back. 9,000 shells an hour rained down during the bombardment. Waves of community soldiers advanced through artillery fire. The Chinese forced the Americans from the summit, and the Vandoos’ commander had a choice – retreat with the rest, or stay.

The Canadians held their ground for three more days. The U.S. infantry regained the hill, and the enemy fell back.

Between 1950 and 1953, nearly 30,000 Canadian volunteers joined the effort to contain communist incursions into South Korea and support the fledgling United Nations. All of the services were there and all served with distinction. The Royal Canadian Navy led a daring rescue of troops from the port of Chinnampo in 1950; members of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry won the highest U.S. battle honour at Kap’yong in April 1951; the Vandoos turned the tide at Hill 355; and twice – at Hill 355 in October 1952 and Hill 187 in May 1953 – members of the Royal Canadian Regiment held firm against forces that greatly outnumbered them.

The navy and the infantry were bolstered by the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery and Lord Strathcona Horse tanks, as well as members of the service, medical, engineers, provost, chaplain and intelligence corps. Still more, from RCAF Thunderbird Squadron, took part in the Korean Airlift – three years of non-stop supply flights across the Pacific.

Deadlock in Korea is a fascinating, sometimes heart-stopping, look at Canada’s forces in a war that history forgot.

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Carved in Granite, 125 Years of Granite Club History

Macmillan Canada
September 15, 1999

ISBN 7715-7636-6

The history of the Granite Club is closely linked to that of the City of Toronto. The club’s founders and early members included many of Toronto’s leading citizens and, to this day, the city’s business and professional leaders are part of the club’s growing membership.

More than 70 years ago Saturday Night magazine said it well: “The Granite Club is a natural evolution of Toronto’s growth in population, prosperity and social activity. Few institutions have been so completely identified with the social history of its home city.”

Carved in Granite portrays individual achievements and family accomplishments against a backdrop of the ever-changing Toronto business and social landscape. Over the years the club has developed into a second home for its members, where families and friends come together to relax, play and participate in the Granite community.

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