Battle of Britain Spitfire Ace – Author Talk at Waterstones Books, Canterbury, England, 27 February 2025

Peter Usher March 27, 2025

I was pleased to have the opportunity to talk about my new book at our local Waterstones bookshop in Canterbury recently. I was even more pleased that Willie Nelson’s son Bill McAlister and his grandson Dan McAlister came down from London to be part of it.

: Bill McAlister, left, and the author, right

: Dan McAlister, Bill McAlister, and Peter Usher

: Event poster for BBSA and author wall, Waterstones Canterbury

: Signing a few books

This website is mostly about the experiences of Canadian airmen in the Second World War. Why? Because several of my own family served in the RCAF then, and some did not return. In later life I began to wonder about those men I never knew. Why did they go, what was their experience, what did they think about it? When I started asking questions, I started getting answers. Some from people who knew and remembered. Some from the discovery of letters and diaries that I had no idea existed. Some from reading and research to learn more about the war they fought in.

My first book, Joey Jacobson’s War, about the short but full life of my mother’s favourite cousin, was published in January 2018. Now I am working on more books about Canadian airmen in the Second World War. This website will keep you up to date on my progress. It also tells you what my books are about, how to get them, when and where I will be speaking about them, and how to contact me.

I also write blogs from time to time, mostly about my books and their themes. When the spirit moves me, I may also write about things I have done, seen, and thought about — from my early years in the Northwest Territories to what I see around me now in the forests, fields, and waters of the Canadian Shield here in Lanark County, Ontario.

Follow my journey here.