PHOTO: CANADIAN FORCES—PL34287; KEN BELL, LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA—PA145497 Top: All five of these airmen were able to evade capture in World War II; a member of the Belgian underground emerges from a hiding place, December 1944. Some of the most dramatic adventures of World War II involved evading capture or escaping from enemy detention. Royal Canadian Air Force personnel featured prominently in many of those events, and so this story and the next two will focus on evaders and escapers. Throughout the war, thousands of RCAF aircrew attempted evasion, and although no one can say how many succeeded, the numbers ran to several hundred. Successful evaders were interviewed ...

In the interest of adding to the public debate over the Allied strategic bombing campaign of World War II, we present the following viewpoint by David L. Bashow who has received positive reviews for his book No Prouder Place: Canadians and the Bomber Command Experience, 1939-1945 (Legion Magazine, Off The Shelf, May/June 2006). As well, the author has written extensively in books and select periodicals on a variety of defence, foreign policy and military history topics. A former Canadian Forces fighter pilot, he is the editor of the Canadian Military Journal and an adjunct professor of history at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ont. While it may appear unfashionable in today's world, I believe a society needs its heroes, and no element of society more so than its armed forces ...