George G. Blackburn
Grace Fortington
(m. 1942–2002)George Gideon Blackburn, CM MC (February 3, 1917 – November 15, 2006) was a decorated Canadian veteran of World War II (Military Cross; French Legion of Honour), a playwright and author. Born in Wales, Ontario, Blackburn worked as a newspaper reporter for the Ottawa Journal in Pembroke, Ontario.[1]
Military service
George Blackburn joined the Canadian Army in 1940, becoming a forward observation officer. He fought in the Battle of Normandy. Blackburn was awarded his Military Cross in 1944 for his role in defending the Twente Canal bridgehead in the Netherlands.
Blackburn returned to Ottawa after the war and found work as a journalist and with the Canadian Department of Labour as Director of Information as well as Director of Fair Employment Practices. He wrote a musical jingle, well known in Canada during the 1960s, Why Wait for Spring? Do It Now, that encouraged home owners to have home improvements done during winter. He was producer for a radio show, Canada at Work and also wrote a musical play, A Day to Remember, about the opening of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, an event that permanently submerged his home town.[1]
Writing career
Blackburn wrote a trilogy of books based on his war-time experiences: The Guns of Normandy: A Soldier's Eye View, France 1944 The Guns of Victory: A Soldier's Eye View, Belgium, Holland, and Germany, 1944-45, and Where the Hell Are the Guns?: A Soldier's View of the Anxious Years, 1939–44. The Guns of Normandy received the "Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction" in 1996.[2] He was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2001. He also received the French Legion of Honour in 2004 Légion d'honneur.
Blackburn died at the Ottawa General Hospital in 2006 where he was being treated for cancer.[1]
References
- ^ a b c George Blackburn - Obituary Ottawa Citizen, November 16–18, 2006, (retrieved 11/21/2012)
- ^ Wilfrid Laurier University Archived 2012-12-08 at archive.today 1996: George G. Blackburn, (retrieved 11/17/2012)
External links
- Veterans Affairs Canada biographical information
- v
- t
- e
Winners of the Edna Staebler Award
- Susan Mayse, Ginger (1991)
- Marie Wadden, Nitassinan, (1992)
- Liza Potvin, White Lies (for my mother) and Elizabeth Hay, The Only Snow in Havana (1993)
- Linda Johns, Sharing a Robin's Life (1994)
- Denise Chong, The Concubine's Children (1995)
- George G. Blackburn, The Guns of Normandy (1996)
- Anne Mullens, Timely Death (1997)
- Charlotte Gray, Mrs. King (1998)
- Michael Poole, Romancing Mary Jane (1999)
- Wayson Choy, Paper Shadows (2000)
- Taras Grescoe, Sacré Blues (2001)
- Tom Allen, Rolling Home (2002)
- Alison Watt, The Last Island (2003)
- Andrea Curtis, Into the Blue (2004)
- Anne Coleman, I'll Tell You a Secret (2005)
- Francis Chalifour, After (2006)
- Linden MacIntyre, Causeway (2007)
- Bruce Serafin, Stardust (2008)
- Russell Wangersky, Burning Down the House (2009)
- John Leigh Walters, A Very Capable Life (2010)
- Helen Waldstein Wilkes, Letters from the Lost (2011)
- Joshua Knelman, Hot Art (2012)
- Carol Shaben, Into the Abyss (2013)
- Arno Kopecky, The Oil Man and the Sea: Navigating the Northern Gateway (2014)
- Lynn Thomson, Birding with Yeats (2015)
- Ann Walmsley, The Prison Book Club (2016)
- Sonja Larsen, Red Star Tattoo (2017)
- Pauline Dakin, Run, Hide, Repeat: A Memoir of a Fugitive Childhood (2018)
- Kate Harris, Lands of Lost Borders: Out of Bounds on the Silk Road (2019)
- Ann Hui, Chop Suey Nation (2020)
- Vicki Laveau-Harvie, The Erratics: A Memoir (2021)
- Jillian Horton, We Are All Perfectly Fine: A Memoir of Love, Medicine and Healing (2022)
- Hilary Peach, Thick Skin: Field Notes from a Sister in the Brotherhood (2023)
Authority control databases  | |
|---|---|
| International |
|
| National |
|
| Other |
|
