Full Description
In Triquet's Cross John MacFarlane tells the story of Paul Triquet, a French-Canadian soldier who was awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery in the battle for Casa Berardi during the Second World War.
One of only thirteen members of the Canadian Armed Forces to be awarded the highest military honour during the war, Triquet was later pressured to resign from the force due to the overwhelming public and political expectations that the award entailed. The role of hero did not suit Triquet and weighed heavily on him and his family. MacFarlane shows how Triquet's story was changed by those who wished to make his hero status the cornerstone in a political debate between francophones and anglophones, particularly with regard to his representing the Commonwealth despite his French-Canadian heritage.
Military heroism has changed in the postwar period, and heroes are no longer expected to be perfect models. But in 1944 Paul Triquet - perhaps the most popular Canadian hero of the war - was asked to conform to political, social, and military agendas. His story reveals much about Canadian and Québécois society at the time and the history of French-Canadians in the Second World War.
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Foreword by Serge Bernier ix
Introduction 3
PART ONE
FROM CABANO TO CASA BERARDI
1 The Call to Adventure, 1910- 1942 9
2 The Road of Trials, 1943 29
PART TWO
CROSS PURPOSES: MEDALS, THE MEDIA, AND AN ARMY AT WAR
3 A Canadian Victoria Cross, March 1944 57
4 Army Public Relations, April 1944 72
5 Hero in an Army at War, May 1944- August 1945 95
PART THREE
THE WARRIOR IN POST WAR SOCIETY
6 Last Attempt at Being a Regular Soldier, 1945- 1947 117
7 A Hero's Return to the Ordinary World, 1947- 1980 132
Epilogue: Remembering Triquet 151
Notes 161
Bibliography 229
Index 243
