About the Book
Bent on leaving his difficult home life and the harsh reality of the Montréal slums, a young French-Canadian boy enrolled himself in the Canadian Army at the height of the Second World War. Little did he know, his search for adventure would turn into a nightmare that would mark him for the remainder of his life.
Dieppe, My Prison follows the harrowing wartime account of Jacques Nadeau as told by Martin Chaput and Jacques’ son, Jean-Guy, from his early life and military enrolment in 1941 through his training and transport to England where he waited to be sent into combat. When he finally sees action, it is at Dieppe, one of the bloodiest battles of WWII for Canadian troops. Not only does Jacques see his friends’ lives ended before him and some of the most horrifying battlefield carnage imaginable, but he is subsequently captured and held prisoner by the Germans for thirty months. After enduring unimaginable conditions for years, he is released by the Russian advance into Poland, joining a small contingent of fellow captives that is ultimately repatriated to England. Throughout his ordeal, he manages to find moments of levity—and even compassion for his captors—and kindles a romance with Jacquie, the woman who would later become his wife.
Told in remarkable detail thanks to the help of extensive diaries and letters, Dieppe, My Prison is a firsthand account of a Canadian’s experience on the Dieppe Raid—and one of the most detailed firsthand accounts of WWII by a Canadian. It is an indispensable piece of military memoir and a stark reminder of the horrors endured to win the world in which we now live.
About the Author
Growing up, Jean-Guy Nadeau heard very little of his father’s wartime experiences. But as his father, Jacques reached mid-life, his attitude seemed to change. He began to reveal his past to anyone who would listen, educating people on the futility of war and the suffering of those made to be pawns in it. Jacques was a regular attendee of the anniversary of the Raid on Dieppe, a member of the Jubilee Association at Dieppe and a lifelong member of the Canadian Legion, with whom he would make Remembrance Day visits to schools to educate younger generations of the horrors of war.
Jean-Guy, took it upon himself to translate this book, adding details based on the copious notes of his father’s he found after his passing. Having grown up in the shadow of the trauma his father endured and witnessing the fervor with which he meant to share his story, Jean-Guy felt it crucial to put his translated account out into the world, hoping for it to begin to fill the dearth of firsthand accounts of Dieppe and, subsequently, life as a prisoner of war. His only regret is not to have started this earlier, while is father was till alive.
Ex-military himself, Jean-Guy spent thirty-six years in the Royal Canadian Navy and holds a BA in history from the Royal Military College at Kingston, Ontario. He lives in Sidney, BC with his spouse, Fran, with whom he has two grown sons, and their sheltie, Tessa.