Saturday, December 27, 2014

Unbroken

Unbroken opened in Canadian theatres this week.

The first reviews I read were not that positive.  I'll have to go and judge for myself.  Here is the trailer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrjJbl7kRrI

The book is a compelling one.
I read the book a couple of years ago.
It is a well researched by Laura Hillenbrand, author of Seabiscuit, a story that is often cited as one of the best sports books of all time. In Unbroken Hillenbrand documents the story of American Louis Zamperini – Olympic athlete, World War II veteran and survivor of Japanese Prisoner of War camps.

I knew a little about Zamperini’s athletic achievements – including an eighth in the 1936 Berlin Olympics 5000 metres – but nearly nothing of his war experiences. Zamperini and his pilot floated 46 days in an open raft after crashing their B-24 in the Pacific. After the crash, bombardier Zamperini spent more than two years in captivity. Hillenbrand goes into great detail about brutal, almost unimaginable conditions faced by POWs particularly in the Ofuna Camp.  (See picture to right.)
Somewhat coincidentally, shortly after finishing this book, wife Karen and I visited the site of a former German POW camp on Lake Muskoka.
The German POW experience in Canada stands in stark contrast to those of Canadian, American, Australian and other POWs captured in the Pacific. More than 30,000 German POW’s were held in approximately 25 camps across Canada.

You can read my story at http://foreveryoungnews.com/posts/2297-home-in-cottage-country-german-pows-in-Canada




Monday, December 1, 2014

Grey Cup Memories

My hometown team was in the Grey Cup this year.


In the lead up to the game I thought back, as many Canadians surely do, to memories of Grey Cups past.


As a kid, when I first became interested in the Canadian Football League, I thought the Hamilton Tiger-Cats were in the “Annual Classic” every year.




Read about Bernie Faloney's "shotgun" run back and how I made it into the 1989 near-victory parade and more at http://foreveryoungnews.com/posts/2890-bob-s-blog-grey-cup-memories-suburb-startled-by-reveller-firing-shotgun