Dear Reader:
We invite you to enjoy pages from a life lived on the sea, out of Canada’s Pacific coast by a young man coming of age at the start of the Great Depression to the end of the Second World War in 1945. It was the start of adventure and skill-building at sea, evading death and preserving the supply chains both on military duty and in the service of global trade and commerce on big ships.
We hope this fascinating memoir will merit your review for inclusion at its first printing, scheduled for the spring of 2023. Living in Interesting Times: The Early Seafaring Years of LT. CDR. J.C. MARSTON, RCN, CD, DSC (RET’D) 19301945 is the edited effort of his son, Joe Marston Jr.
The meticulous personal notes of an ordinary sea cadet chronicle his transformation to a great Canadian Marine Captain. Joseph Charles Marston Sr. sets sail as a 15-year-old Naval Sea Cadet signed on in Vancouver as a bridge messenger aboard the iconic Canadian Pacific Ocean Liner, SS Empress of Canada. He could not have imagined the near-death experiences of war nor the enviable adventures of a lifetime that lay ahead of him. He would witness great historical events. He advanced from a young merchant marine officer serving aboard British cargo ships between Scotland and Canada prior to the outbreak of the war to his posts as a Royal Canadian Navy officer from 1941 onwards.
He documents some of those untold stories of life in the water-bound arena in the effort to support the allies by sustaining the supply chain. With our current experiences of war and crises of contagion, the value of a supply chain is now understood by the world.
Through the compilation and edits of his son, Marston transports readers through Pacific typhoons, the survival of his merchant ship after one of the first and unexpected torpedo attacks by German U-boats to his first-ever command of a Canadian navy minesweeper at Omaha Beach during the pivotal D-Day invasion on 6 June 1944.
With great consideration I invite you to join and help honour this Canadian story as you can by contributing a review of the book or featuring it in your written work.
Civilian and Military marine history buffs will enjoy the rich details, personal observations and the context for both commerce building and conflict fighting; context depicted in the life around Lt. Cdr. Joseph C. Marston RCN, CD, DSC
Best Regards,
Honoré Gbedze, Publisher
