In Living and Learning in Retirement’s 50th year, Ted Barris continues his Friday lectures this winter at Glendon College’s Centre for Excellence. His series, “Missing in Action: Untold Stories of Canadians’ Participation in Historic Moments,” features famous periods of world history, in which Canadians played vital roles.

Lecture No. 8. “Don’t ever tell a Korean War vet it was ‘a police action.’”More than three million people died in the Korea War between 1950 and 1953. And among the 15 members of the United Nations forces sent to restore the border between the two Koreas, the U.S. would sustain nearly 64,000 killed or missing-in-action, while Canada would sustain 1,557 casualties (including 516) dead. Despite its magnitude and how close the world came to WWIII, the Korea War remains the forgotten war. This talk – how Canadians served in the first-ever defence of the United Nations Peace Charter.

Ted Barris has published 20 non-fiction books, half of them wartime histories. His book, The Great Escape: A Canadian Story, won the 2014 Libris Award as Best Non-Fiction Book in Canada. His book, Dam Busters: Canadian Airmen and the Secret Raid Against Nazi Germany, received the 2018 NORAD Trophy from the RCAF Association. And his book, Rush to Danger: Medics in the Line of Fire, was long-listed for the 2020 Charles Taylor Prize for Non-Fiction in Canada. In December 2022, Ted Barris was appointed Member of the Order of Canada.