Haywire My Life in the Mines

The author recounts his family history including an ancestor who fought at the Battle of Waterloo and another who was a veteran of the Crimean War. His maternal grandfather was a veteran of the First World War and his father a veteran of the Second World War having served with the Royal Canadian Regiment and the First Special Service Force (the Devil’s Brigade). Two uncles served with the Canadian Forces during World War II. One was raked by a machine gun on Juno Beach; the other suffered a shrapnel wound to his neck and had the heel of his boot shot off. His mother was raised in a log cabin built out of necessity during the Great Depression. He goes on to describe his five years working in the mines in Northern Ontario including many “close calls”. He explores his father's service in the Royal Canadian Regiment and the First Special Service Force during World War II more fully in a chapter entitled, "Shoulder Patch" and finally he briefly describes his experiences in various southern Ontario factories.