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Six War Years 1939-1945; Memories of Canadians at Home and Abroad
by Barry Broadfoot - Published by Doubleday Canada Ltd., 1974 - 417 pages
The book is comprised of excerpts from personal interviews conducted by Mr. Broadfoot in the early 1970s. He travelled across Canada asking the basic question, "What did you do in the war?" He describes the process and the outcome in the preface of the book, commenting that, "This book has been written by the Canadian people, men and women, who served on the home front and overseas." He goes on to explain "The Second World War was the most exciting time of their lives for many Canadians looking back from the '70s." The war lifted the country out of the Depression. Canada produced war materials that were equal on an economic percentage basis to the United States. In the process the lives of its citizens were changed. The people who told the stories are not named but are typical of so many who contributed to the war effort as service personnel or as civilians.
The preface is followed by a two-page summary of the war in which Mr. Broadfoot offers some statistics that illustrate the massive impact of the war on the economy. As example is that in 1939 the government budget was $553,063,000. By 1945 the defence expenditure alone was more that $19,000,000,000. The nation of Canada, with no war industry in 1939, had by 1945 about one-tenth of the population working in war plants.
The book is divided into 38 topics, all of them with captivating stories. Each grouping is prefaced by some relevant commentary by Mr. Broadfoot. Each story is given a short title that captures a phrase that was used by the person reminiscing in his or her own words. The sections most relevant to the home front have the following titles:
| Leaving Home - or Staying There | Romance in Canada |
| Patriotism on the Home Front | A Lovely War - at Home |
| Standing on Guard for Thee | Booze |
| "Out with the Japs" | Zombies |
| Kids | French and English |
| Men at Home | Women |
| Laughing All the Way to the Bank | Coming Home |
| The Alaska Highway | Looking Back |
The general widespread prosperity that resulted due to war industry is illustrated by the titles of the interview segments featured in the section A Lovely War - at Home. Those title phrases are as follows: "When War Come, I was Glad" … Spend, Spend, Spend … Jobs Everywhere … The Money Just Rolled in … Good Years for Everybody … A Fabulous Steak … One Dollar … Some Kind of Las Vegas … We Made Good Money … Selling Was Easy … The Best Farm in the District.
The book has three sections of photos consisting of eight pages each.
