Pierre Berton

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Pierre Francis de Marigny Berton (July 12, 1920 – November 30, 2004) was a well-known Canadian non-fiction author, particularly Canadiana and Canadian history, and he was a television presenter and journalist.

His books have received numerous honors and prizes. Berton, a prolific and well-known storyteller, was one of Canada's most prolific and popular writers.

He wrote about popular culture, Canadian history, revisions of mainstream belief, anthologies, children's books, and historical works for youth.

He was also a founder of the Writers' Trust of Canada, a non-profit literary group that aims to strengthen Canada's writing community.

Berton's 50 books became well-received due in part to his light and fast-paced writing style.

Early years

Berton was born in Whitehorse, Yukon, where his father had gone for the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush. In 1921, his family migrated to Dawson City, Yukon. Laura Beatrice Berton (née Thompson), his mother, was a school teacher in Toronto until she was offered a job as a tutor in Dawson City at the age of 29 in 1907. Frank Berton was born in Granville, a nearby mining town, just after settling in Dawson and teaching kindergarten. Laura Beatrice Berton's autobiography of life in Yukon, I Married the Klondike, was published in her later years and gave her what her son Pierre describes as "a modicum of fame" she thoroughly enjoyed." Dawson City was once a very rural place. Berton took a week from Dawson City to Whitehorse after visiting Dawson City in 1939 to see some old friends, as the only means of transportation was a taxi. Dawson City, which had briefly during the Klondike gold rush in the 1890s, was one of Canada's biggest cities, left Berton with a keen eye for the colorful. He encountered many eccentric people during the gold rush north and ended up staying in Dawson City after the gold rush ended.

In 1932, Berton's family immigrated to Victoria, British Columbia. He joined the Scout Movement at the age of 12. "The Scout Movement was the making of me," Berton later wrote. Scouting helped him avoid being a juvenile delinquent, which he praised. He began his journalism work in scouting and later wrote that "the first newspaper I was ever involved with was a weekly typewritten publication published by the Seagull Patrol of St. Mary's Troop." In an article titled "My Love Affair with the Scout Movement," he remained in scouting for seven years and wrote about his experiences. Pierre Berton worked in Klondike mining camps during his time as a history major at the University of British Columbia, where he also worked on the university newspaper The Ubyssey.

Personal life

In 1946, Berton married Janet Walker. They had eight children. Berton was an atheist.

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Military career

He began his newspaper career in Vancouver, where at 21 he was the youngest city editor on any Canadian daily, swapping editorial staff who had been called up during the Second World War. The Japanese Navy bombed Pearl Harbour, the American naval base, on the same day as the Japanese Army invaded Hong Kong and Malaya. The magnitude and rapidity of the Japanese victories in the winter of 1941-42 was a surprise, and Berton later revealed that the war now seemed much closer than it had ever been seen before. He recalled that he always wondered when the Japanese would land when he looked at the sea in 1941-42. In February 1942, he noticed Japanese-Canadians being held in the field of Vancouver's Exhibition Stadium prior to being sent to internment camps in the Rocky mountains, but the federal government confiscated much of the property in Vancouver.

Berton was conscripted into the Canadian Army under the National Resource Mobilization Act in 1942 and underwent basic training in British Columbia, albeit as a reinforcement soldier for the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada. The government had the ability to order conscription for the defense of Canada, but only volunteers were sent to combat overseas until late 1944, according to the National Resources Mobilization Act. The men who were drafted and remained in Canada were affectionately known as "the Zombies," a term that was widely disparaging. In several quarters, the "Zombies" were regarded as cowards because they refused to combat in foreign countries. He decided to "go Active" (the euphemism for volunteering for overseas service). By 1942, the Axis powers were winning the war, and Berton came to the conclusion that the two very different visions of the world presented by both sides were so different that he had to go "going active" instead of staying safely in Canada as a "Zombie." Lance Corporal and attended NCO school, and he became a basic training instructor in the rank of corporal because of his aptitude as a soldier. He wanted to serve as an officer due to his experience in the Canadian Officers' Training Corps (COTC) and being inspired by other citizen-soldiers who had been posted.

Berton spent the next four years attending a variety of military schools, becoming, in his words, the most highly trained officer in the military. He was warned of overseas service many times and was granted embarkation leave several times, but every time his overseas draft was cancelled. Berton, now a Captain, trained to serve as an Intelligence Officer (IO), and after a stint as an instructor at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario, he went overseas in March 1945. Since the curriculum in the UK was different from that in the intelligence school in Canada, he was told he would need to requalify as an IO. The war in Europe had ended by the time Berton was recalled. During his stay in Britain, he courted Frances, abruptly ending when she told him that she was pregnant with his child and wanted to marry him (being a big social disgrace in the United Kingdom at the time), prompting Berton to tell her that he never wanted to see her again. Berton never knew his British child. He joined the Canadian Army Pacific Force (CAPF), received a final "embarkation leave," and discovered himself no closer to combat service by the time the Japanese surrendered in September 1945.

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