Ripples of War: Lloyd's Story

This is an historical novel, based on the life of Lloyd Wonnacott, who was born in Charlottetown in 1898. As a young teenager before the outbreak of World War 1, Lloyd was an avid hunter and fisherman, and parts of the book describe the sportsman's paradise that was Prince Edward Island in those days. Before the war, Lloyd met beautiful Nell, the first love of his life and from the time when he was 17 and Lloyd joined World War 1 as a gunner in an Island artillery battery, Nell wrote to him every week. Lloyd tells us first-hand, what he went through for more than three years, on the front lines of France and Belgium as he endured the Hell of trench warfare and vicious artillery duels with the German forces. The book describes light moments during breaks in the action, some strange things that really happened, the horrors of being wounded and seeing his friends die - and the way men like him survived the agony of war. Lloyd learned to cope with the misery of war by drinking, and booze became a haven that allowed him to escape any reality he did not want to face. After the war, the solitude of hunting and fishing expeditions became another refuge - and when Lloyd finally overcame his addiction to alcohol, he relied on the pursuit of fish and game as a way to escape his memories of war and the pressures of life. When he returned to Canada, Lloyd married the only daughter of one of the richest men on Prince Edward Island - B.W. LePage - a successful businessman and prominent politician who was vehemently opposed to drinking. The book details their sharply contrasting personalities and lifestyles, as they clash frequently - and how their families suffer. As you read this book you will meet many old-time Island "characters", you'll see how they lived and along the way you will get a sense of what life was like on Prince Edward Island from about 1910 to 1957. One of the prominent characters was B.W. LePage, who rose from being the son of a rural country merchant to being the Island's representative in London, for the Coronation of King George VI. The essential story in this book is true, based on extensive memoirs that Lloyd left behind when he died in 1957. As far as I know, all of the accounts of World War 1 happened just the way I have told them - because that's the way Lloyd related them - although my grandfather's memory may have tricked him from time to time, considering that 40 years had passed from the time some of the events occurred until he sat down to write about them. The tales of hunting and fishing trips across many parts of Prince Edward Island are probably true, because Lloyd was such an exceptional sportsman that no exaggeration or embellishment would have been necessary, and "The Island" abounded in trout, black ducks and other game when Lloyd was a young man. Then again, has any avid fisherman ever told strictly the truth? I hope this story makes you think and remember the many men and women who went to war and sacrificed all or parts of their lives to help build our country. It may be easy for you to understand some of the physical events they endured, and perhaps you will think of the psychological effect that their war experiences had upon them. But the effects of war on the people who actually fought them, were also felt indirectly by the families and friends of those servicemen and servicewomen. "Lloyd's Story" does not connect the dots, or spell out in simple language, how World War 1 indirectly affected each person in Lloyd's life. I have left this for each reader to think about. But the impacts were real and they affected his circle of friends and Lloyd's family across several generations. As you read this story, I hope you will recognize how war indirectly affected many of the people you will meet. As ripples spread across a pond when a stone is thrown into it, the effects of horrific events spread across many lives, for these are the ripples of war.