Through the Gates of Hell & Back: memoir of a footslogger from ‘The Avenue’ (ISBN 9781895814149)

This book is an unabridged memoir written by and for infantrymen who bore the brunt of war. It chronicles the hardships of the footslogger struggling through the mud and cold, witnessing the torn flesh and death of comrades at arms, penned with a poignant humour and sprinkled with lessons learned,as a boy is transformed into a man during his journey “to and through the gates of hell and back”.

It is the story of the Canadian First Division’s determined and bloody fight through Sicily and Italy, a fight that ended for John Bentley O’Brien on the outskirts of Ortona (The Gully). Follow this personal account from his initial enlistment in the Halifax Rifles in 1940 as a member of the signal corps - to his stint in the Merchant Marine sailing in U-boat infested waters and his subsequent court martial - to his transfer to the West Nova Scotia Regiment with whom he served overseas from 1942-44 - and with whom he remained connected through 40 years of reunions and the Royal Canadian Legion.

Cover is by well-known portrait artist and illustrator Jacqui Mitchell.