A mysterious journal by a Canadian soldier who fought in World War II has inspired one Prince George author’s latest piece.
Brenda Clotildes, writing as Brenda Margriet, drew the influence for ‘After Words’ from the journal of William Henry Smith, a member of the North Nova Scotia Highlanders assigned to Juno Beach.
She found a transcript of his diary online in The Canadian Letters and Images Project, curated by Vancouver Island University.
The project transcribes and collects wartime documents from Canadians.
According to his journal, Smith traveled to England in 1941 and spent three years there training for what would eventually become known as D-Day.
“Here’s this 21 or 22-year-old man meeting people, girls, and in between he’s marching 50 miles to prepare for all the activities he would be doing during the D-Day invasion, which he didn’t know he would be a part of,” she explained.
“It was so innocent and casual up until those last few entries, then it just hits you with the hammer about what he was really over there for. It’s just so incredibly normal. That’s what got me. You’re able to connect with him.”
The story of William Henry Smith is shrouded in mystery.
“Even the regiment he belonged to, they have a museum in Nova Scotia. They can’t trace his name,” Clotildes explained.
“They aren’t even sure how he got over to England even though he mentions all these things in his diary.”
To this day, his fate after his final entry remains unknown and his family never identified.
“There are only about four or five entries from the moment he leaves England to go to France. Then very few during the invasion. The last one is that he’s going home but there’s nothing after that,” Clotildes said.
“Nobody knows if he made it home.”
Clotildes brings her characters on a search for Smith that spans from Prince George to Amherst, Nova Scotia.
Each chapter begins with one of Smith’s entries.
“I decided that I would give this young man a happy ending one way or the other,” said Clotildes.
“My dream is someone reads the book and recognizes him.”
The state of the world under Covid-19 is not so different from major historical events, she noted.
“Everything is different but also the same,” she explained. “We look back on these days and think all these people talked or thought about was the war.”
“Really they were just living their ordinary lives from day to day to day, doing the best they could in the situation they were in.”
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