Huge loss, I remember reading his stories when I was a kid, the book about his dog and the owls in the family were awesome to read and I was a big fan.
Later on I read "And no birds sang" and the book of his letters to his family in WW2 and admired his sense of humor and steadfastness.
He had a great story telling style and made you immerse yourself in the story.
“I wonder now… were my tears for Alex and Al and all the others who had gone and who were yet to go? Or was I weeping for myself…and those who would remain?
What I found ridiculous was when Mowat not allowed into the USA.
Quote:
He eventually learned that his name appeared in the "Lookout book" maintained by immigration officials to keep out subversives. Apparently he was believed to represent a threat to the country's national security due to his environmentalist writings.
I remember for a project in Grade 9 we had to write an author. I wrote him asking him some questions. He responded. I don't remember what the questions or responses were, but I do remember that:
a) I was one of the few students who received a letter back;
b) You could tell it was done on a typewriter and not a computer. I thought that part was really neat.
RIP
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Was always impressed that he got the attention of McCarthy in the US and was labelled a communist and banner from the US. Major street cred right there.
Considering what he did in WW2 for Canada and what he did at the end of the war with Farley's Army.
Quote:
During the Second World War, Mowat was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant into the Second Battalion, Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment, affectionately known as the Hasty Ps. He went overseas as a reinforcement officer for that regiment, joining the Canadian Army in the United Kingdom. On July 10, 1943, he was a subaltern in command of a rifle platoon and participated in the initial landings of Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily.[4]
Mowat served throughout the campaign as a platoon commander and moved to Italy in September 1943, seeing further combat until December 1943. During the Moro River Campaign, he suffered from battle stress, heightened after an incident on Christmas Day outside of Ortona, Italy when he was left weeping at the feet of an unconscious friend, Lt. Allan (Moir) Park, who had an enemy bullet in his head.[5] He then accepted a job as Intelligence Officer at battalion headquarters, later moving to Brigade Headquarters. He stayed in Italy in the 1st Canadian Infantry Division for most of the war, eventually being promoted to the rank of captain.
Mowat moved with the Division to Northwest Europe in early 1945. There, he worked as an intelligence agent in the Netherlands and went through enemy lines to start unofficial negotiations about food drops with General Blaskowitz. The food drops, under the codename Operation Manna, saved thousands of Dutch lives.
Mowat also formed the 1st Canadian Army Museum Collection Team, according to his book My Father's Son, and arranged for the transport to Canada of several tons of German military equipment, including a V2 rocket and several armoured vehicles. Some of these vehicles are on display today at the Canadian Forces Base Borden tank museum.[citation needed]
Mowat was discharged at the conclusion of the Second World War in 1945 as a Captain, and was considered for promotion to Major, though he turned down the offer as it was incumbent on him volunteering to stay in the military until "no longer needed", which Mowat assumed to mean duty with the Canadian Army Occupation Force (CAOF) but might also have meant the conclusion of the war with Japan.[6]
I'm ashamed to admit that I don't know much about the man or his works. The name was familiar to me so we probably studied some of his work in high school or in other writing courses I took, but nothing I can remember clearly.
However I am going to use this to look back at his works and life now. From the bios that I'm reading today it sounds like he had a very interesting life.
Farley Mowat dies at 92
