National Network for Equitable Library Service

On their march towards the Somme, and Beaumont Hamel, the young men of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment raised their voices to sing “When the Great Red Dawn is Shining,” a song about returning home to the people they love. Howard Morry was one of the young men who managed to make it back. And now, one hundred years after the events that changed his life, we hear Morry’s voice, in these pages, rising from the silence to recount his days with the famed Regiment.

On the morning of July 1, 1916, at Beaumont-Hamel, the men of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment climbed out of their trenches and advanced into no man’s land. Eric Mackenzie Robertson went over the top on that fateful day—and survived. Almost unbelievably, just four years later, Robertson would become the first born and bred Newfoundlander to compete in the Olympics.

How did a Catholic bishop stop the riot of 1861? Which British monarch physically assaulted a priest in St. John’s? What ancient relics are kept at the Basilica? Did a British princess help build Newfoundland’s greatest Catholic church?

In the early hours of February 15, 1982, tragedy struck the Ocean Ranger oil rig when it capsized and sank in a severe weather storm 170 nautical miles east of St. John's, Newfoundland. All of the eighty-four crewmen perished, including fifty-six men from the province. This was Canada's greatest maritime disaster since World War II. Rig is a powerful story filled with first-person accounts and previously unpublished photographs.

Connecting the Continents tells the story of the struggles and successes of a pioneer cable station whose elite group of operators added a new social class to the community. In the process, they reshaped life in Heart's Content, giving it a flavour unique among the outports of the province.

The Jack Ford Story: The Newfoundlander in Nagasaki is an amazing story of endurance, courage and survival. In 1940, Jack Ford was an employee of the Newfoundland Railway in a remote settlement of Newfoundland. Having volunteered for service in World War II at the age of twenty-one, Ford encountered the realities of war when the troop ship he was traveling on to England was attacked several times by German U-boats. When the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, Jack Ford was there - in a prisoner of war camp.

In 2009, author Ted Rowe published his fascinating book about the transatlantic cable called Connecting the Continents. The narrative of that 1866 miracle of engineering brought the outport of Heart's Content back to the world's attention. Now, in a companion volume to his earlier book, Rowe introduces us to the characters who shaped this remarkable community from its earliest days up to the 1970s. Readers will meet pioneer merchants, rogue priests, and community stalwarts.

First in Line: The Incredible Life of Leonard Stick documents the life of Leonard Stick, a distinguished war veteran, lawman and federal politician who was the 'first' in many historically significant events throughout his lifetime. Stick was the first man to enlist with the Newfoundland Regiment, regional No. 1, when it was reconstructed at the outbreak of WWI. He was also a member of the First Five Hundred, also known at the Blue Puttees and fought in the Battle of Beaumont Hamel. He was promoted to sergeant on September 21, 1914.

On December 6, 1917, the Canadian city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, was shattered when a volatile cargo exploded in the bustling wartime harbour. Over 1,600 people were killed and 9,000 injured. At the time, it was the worst man-made disaster in history. This book weaves together the compelling stories and potent lessons learned from this catastrophe.

An army may march on its stomach, but it needs more than hot dinners to fight. As Canadians battled through Northwest Europe in the Second World War, how did they reinforce their front lines? An Army of Never-Ending Strengthprovides detailed insight into the administration, structure, and troop and equipment levels of the First Canadian Army during 1944–45. Captain Arthur W. Gullachsen demonstrates the army's effectiveness at reinforcing its combat units and draws a powerful conclusion.