Edward Mastronardi

Mock the Haggard Face Edward Mastronardi

This is a honestly realistic novel graphically describing the experiences of a representative group of young Canadians volunteering to fight an unknown enemy in an obscure Asian peninsula for reasons as varied as their ethnic and social backgrounds. The author accurately portrays their motivations and experiences along with a convincing picture of the actual fighting avoiding unwarranted heroics and sensationalism, portraying a truthful account of what Korea was like to the men in the front lines as well as the loves they left behind in Canada and the United States. Written in a chronological form emphasizing its historical perspective centering on the activities of a Canadian battalion, in its build up, training in Canada and the United States, finally indoctrination in battle. The incidents are real for the most part, also indicating for soldiers death and tragedy often occurring unexpectedly, not necessarily confined to the battle field. The contribution of Canada to the United Nations effort halting Communist aggression in the Far East is not as well known as it deserves to be; this book is intended to make up for it.