If you’ve come to my site because you read Dear Billie, you have my thanks and appreciation. It has meant a great deal to me to share my parents’ story. It has meant even more that so many people have enjoyed reading it.

January 22^nd, 2024, marked five years since “Billie” passed away. January 23^rd marked five years since her children discovered the letters written to her by our father, Vern Ploughman. Dear Billie began simply enough. I brought the letters home after my mother’s funeral and transcribed them into a WORD document so they could be distributed to my brothers and my parents’ grandchildren. A little later, I began to contemplate writing their story so their grandchildren would have it. (Four of them never met my father, Vern.) And then I realized I needed to do some research and set about getting my father’s military records, accessing the War Diary of his regiment, reading books and articles about the 22^nd Canadian Army Regiment’s time in England and its major contribution to Operation TOTALIZE which was a part of Operation OVERLORD. I talked to elderly relatives who could help me with the names I came across in my father’s letters if I didn’t know who they were. Next, I began to write Billie and Vern’s story. With each passing day, a fuller picture emerged of who they were and what that period in time looked like. Only in telling their story did I begin to truly appreciate how very different their circumstances were from my own at that age. And I came to have tremendous respect, not only for them, but for all that generation who lived in extraordinary times. In sharing my writing with friends as I progressed, I got valuable feedback and the suggestion that maybe more than my immediate family would be interested in this story. When the manuscript was complete, I took their advice and submitted Dear Billie to local publishers. Flanker Press Ltd. accepted it and in July of 2022 it was released.

When publication day arrived, I thought that would be the most rewarding part of the whole endeavour. And it was great. Then came book signings and feedback. And a whole new aspect of writing this story opened up. It has been by far the richest aspect. Again and again, someone would stop by my table and strike up a conversation about a member of their family who had served or been affected. It could be an uncle, a grandfather, a parent, a grandmother, an aunt. They could have served in a branch of the military of any of the Allied forces. Maybe they were a nurse or a trainer. Or ended up a prisoner of war. Or they didn’t serve but married a serviceman, were a war bride. I’ve heard many stories of pilots and seamen and gunners, of those who survived and those who didn’t. But they are all remembered.

What strikes me most is the pride with which these stories are related. That the connection is strong. These were not the stories of admirals and generals, great commanders. They were the stories of people thrust from their everyday lives into extraordinary circumstances. And they did so willingly while their loved ones let them go hoping for the best, fearing the worst. They carried on. What I heard in those voices who told me about their loved ones was pride that they could count ‘heroes’ among their ancestors. Anyone who thinks it doesn’t take a hero to face the challenges that generation faced does not understand what heroism is. We, the descendants, have picked that up, that one thing so elemental and yet not necessarily understood or fully appreciated by later generations.

Over this past year and a half, I’ve come to appreciate how my experience has been enriched by every single person who took the time to tell me their story. Most of those being remembered will never have a book written about them but their stories are just as important. I hope if you take the time to read this post, you will consider what you can do to remember your loved one/s. All the letters that were left by my mother, Billie, have been donated to the Archives at The Rooms in St. John’s. That way they will be properly stored and made available to those who would like to see them firsthand. If you have memorabilia related to WWII, please consider donating it to an organization that can care for it and will provide a permanent record of the service of those who went to war in whatever capacity. Help ensure their sacrifices will be remembered.