The Best of Times, The Worst of Times

About the Book

    When you heard a "Moaning Minnie" winding up, first you'd learn to dive into your slit-trench very quickly. Then you'd learn your trench mate, jumping in with steel shod boots, might not be particular where he landed. you learned discretion. The glamour of soldiering wears thin quickly when you are being shot at. This view of war is written as a novel based on the first hand experience of an infantryman who was there.
    Starting with Basic Training in Canada the story follows Jamie Anderson in a Canadian Army University Course and Advanced Training before proceeding Overseas. Girl troubles, typical for most soldiers, are his worst problem until he gets into action.
    Survival is Jamie's dream on the battlefields, from the hedgerows of Normandy to the dyke lands of Holland, his unit always pressing into the most dangerous places and too often, Jamie the point man. Discomfort was a way of life - being dirty, hungry, wet, cold, exhausted and out of smokes. Foot-slogging soldiers conjured up reveries of home.
    Lieutenant Cohen made promises: "Soon as this little action is finished the regiment is going into reserve. For a week at a big chateau. Hot meals, All the wine you can drink. And there's a busload of girls coming from the Follies Bergere in Paris."
    "Ah, shut p," says a voice from the straggling line.

About the Author

    Bill Crowell was born in Sydney, Cape Breton, N.S. and has lived and worked in Canada and the U.S. as a newspaperman and a teacher. He now lives at Lake Annis, Nova Scotia.
    He joined the militia as a boy in Lockenport, N.S., first with The West Nova Scotia Regiment and later with the 14th Field Regiment, R.C.A.
    After high school, Bill joined the Active Service and was with the Canadian Army University Course during basic training in Yarmouth and then a stint at Acadia university.
    Overseas, he served with the Royal Regiment of Canada in Normandy and later with the North Nova Scotia Highlanders. He was wounded three times.
    He has written Atlantic Treasure Troves and The Raccoon Sporran. This is his second novel.