George G. Blackburn

For other people named George Blackburn, see George Blackburn (disambiguation).

George Blackburn, CM, MC

Born	George Gideon Blackburn (1917-02-03)February 3, 1917 Wales, Ontario
Died	November 15, 2006(2006-11-15) (aged 89) Ottawa
Occupation	World War II war veteran, playwright, writer
Nationality	Canadian
Genre	Non-fiction, historical non-fiction, creative non-fiction essay, literary criticism
Notable works	The Guns of Normandy; The Guns of Victory; Where the Hell are the Guns?
Spouse	Grace Fortington (m. 1942–2002)
Children	Daughter Andrea of Tallahassee, sons Mark of Winnipeg and Ron of Ottawa: GRANDCHILDREN Kim Toronto, David Lanark, Nova Scotia, Aaron Winnipeg, Ben Winnipeg ; Maxine Ottawa, Great-Grandchildren: Victoria Toronto, Matthew Toronto, Thomas Winnipeg, Emily Winnipeg, Lochlan Lanark, Nova Scotia, Madelaine Lanark, Nova Scotia, Luke Winnipeg

George Gideon Blackburn, CM, MC (February 3, 1917 – November 15, 2006) was a decorated Canadian veteran of World War II (Military Cross; French Legion of Honour), a playwright and award winning author. Born in Wales, Ontario, Blackburn worked as a newspaper reporter for the Ottawa Journal in Pembroke, Ontario.^[1]

This is a copy of the obituary for George G. Blackburn that was sent to the newspapers announcing his passing: OBITUARY FOR GEORGE G. BLACKBURN

"Peacefully, in his sleep, at 11:11 a.m. November 15, 2006 , in his 90th year at Ottawa ’s General Hospital where he’d been diagnosed with cancer. Predeceased by his wife of 60 years Grace Fortington , four years ago. Survived by three children, daughter Andrea of Tallahassee , Florida , his sons Mark of Winnipeg and Ron of Ottawa . George G. Blackburn is also survived by grandchildren Kim, David, Aaron, Ben, and Maxine, and by great-grandchildren Victoria, Matthew, Thomas, Emily, Lochlan, Madeleine and Luke.

A man of many talents, he suddenly found himself, late in life, with hundreds of new friends from around the world after authoring a WWII book trilogy, the first of which “Guns of Normandy,” was winner ten years ago of the Ottawa Citizen Book of the Year Award (1996). The books provided a first hand account of Canadian soldiers in action but did not include details of how the author, as a young artillery officer, was awarded the Military Cross for helping save a key bridgehead at the Twente Canal in the Netherlands, on April 3 and 4, 1945. Blackburn's other World War II medals included 1939–1945 Star; France & Germany Star; Defence Medal; War Medal; Canadian Volunteer Service Medal.

Late-in-life he was awarded the Order of Canada and the French Legion of Honour.

Blackburn's literary awards include the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction; the Ottawa Citizen Book of the Year Award and a Trillium Award jury citation that Guns of Normandy "May well contain the greatest Canadian memories of World War II."

Earlier awards included honours for plays and films of note.

After a pre-war stint as reporter for the Ottawa Journal in Pembroke, Captain George Blackburn returned from Europe to serve as Director of Information and Director of Fair Employment Practices, for the Federal Department of Labour. Starting in the 1950s he became producer of the longest-running radio show "Canada at Work", as well as an award-winning documentary film script writer, which films included topics on the Older Worker; Anti-Discrimination; a film starring Wayne & Schuster called "You Can Go a Long Way", encouraging teenagers to stay in high school rather than drop out and the country’s most successful government campaign, "Why Wait for Spring? Do It Now!" Winter Works Campaign, which revolutionized winter construction and employment during the winter months.

Born in 1917 in a farmhouse near Wales Ontario, a village which disappeared beneath the waters of the St. Lawrence Seaway, George Blackburn would later commemorate the ‘saga of the Seaway’ in his musical play "A Day to Remember" whose songs were among hundreds, for which he composed words and music. His musical was professionally performed for two summers, at a theatre of his own creation, near Upper Canada Village.

His last expressed wish was that "young people be made aware of the sacrifice made by (generations of) soldiers on behalf of Canadian freedom." Only weeks ago, he’d made his final, annual visit to Manitoba’s Camp Shilo – to address Canada’s young artillery officers.

On a personal note, George Blackburn never "talked the talk" of organized religion – though he believed in a creator God but he "walked the walk" never allowing anyone to 'pick up the tab' at any event he attended and providing a lifelong banquet for widows and others who could never repay him in kind. A great man, profoundly missed by those who survive him. A memorial service will be held at Pinecrest Cemetery, Saturday November 18 at 2 o’clock, 2006."

Military service

George Blackburn joined the Canadian Army in 1940, becoming a forward observation officer. He fought in the Battle of Normandy. Blackburn was awarded his Military Cross in 1944 for his role in defending the Twente Canal bridgehead in the Netherlands.

Blackburn returned to Ottawa after the war and found work as a journalist and with the Canadian Department of Labour as Director of Information as well as Director of Fair Employment Practices. He wrote a musical jingle, well known in Canada during the 1960s, Why Wait for Spring? Do It Now, that encouraged home owners to have home improvements done during winter. He was producer for a radio show, Canada at Work and also wrote a musical play, A Day to Remember, about the opening of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, an event that permanently submerged his home town.^[1]

Writing career

Blackburn wrote a trilogy of books based on his war-time experiences: The Guns of Normandy: A Soldier's Eye View, France 1944 The Guns of Victory: A Soldier's Eye View, Belgium, Holland, and Germany, 1944-45, and Where the Hell Are the Guns?: A Soldier's View of the Anxious Years, 1939–44. The Guns of Normandy received the "Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction" in 1996.^[2] He was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2001. He also received the French Legion of Honour in 2004 Légion d'honneur.

Blackburn died at the Ottawa General Hospital in 2006 where he was being treated for cancer.^[1]

References

1 2 3 George Blackburn - Obituary Ottawa Citizen, November 16–18, 2006, (retrieved 11/21/2012)
↑ Wilfrid Laurier University 1996: George G. Blackburn, (retrieved 11/17/2012)

External links

Veterans Affairs Canada biographical information

Recipients of the Edna Staebler Award and shortlist honours

Edna Staebler

1990s Winners	Winning writer, Winning title, (award year), ISBN Susan Mayse, Ginger, (1991), ISBN 9781550170184 – Marie Wadden, Nitassinan, (1992), ISBN 9781550540017 – Liza Potvin, White Lies (for my mother), (1993 co-winner), ISBN 9780920897133 – Elizabeth Hay, The Only Snow in Havana, (1993 co-winner), ISBN 9780920953808 – Linda Johns, Sharing a Robin's Life, (1994), ISBN 9781551090559 – Denise Chong, The Concubine's Children, (1995), ISBN 9780140254273 – George G. Blackburn, The Guns of Normandy, (1996), ISBN 9780771015038 – Anne Mullens, Timely Death, (1997), ISBN 9780394280844 – Charlotte Gray, Mrs. King, (1998), ISBN 9780670866748 – Michael Poole, Romancing Mary Jane, (1999), ISBN 9781550547498

1990s Shortlist nominees	Nominated writer, Nominated title, (nomination year), ISBN Phil Jenkins, Fields of Vision, (1992), ISBN 9780771044014 – Anne Kershaw and Mary Lasovich, Rock-a-bye Baby (1992), ISBN 9780195412680 – Sherrill MacLaren, Invisible Power, (1992), ISBN 9780770425265 – Marlene Webber, Street Kids, (1992), ISBN 9780802067050 – Rosalind MacPhee, Picasso's Woman, (1995), ISBN 9781568361383 – Jack Kuper, After the Smoke Cleared, (1995), ISBN 9780773728325 – Rita Moir, Survival Gear, (1995), ISBN 9780919591813 – Patricia Pitcher, Artists, Craftsmen and Technocrats, (1996), ISBN 9780773728585 – Tom Connors, Stompin' Tom, (1996), ISBN 9780670864874 – Frances Backhouse, Women of the Klondike, (1996), ISBN 9781770500174 – William Aide, Starting from Porcupine, (1997), ISBN 9780778010470 – Phil Jenkins, An Acre of Time (1997), ISBN 9781551990026 – Douglas Chambers, Stony Ground, (1997), ISBN 9780394281544 – Elisabeth Raab, And Peace Never Came, (1998), ISBN 9780889202924 – Lois Sweet, God In The Classroom, (1998), ISBN 9780771083198 – A.C. Lewis, Nahanni Remembered, (1998), ISBN 9781896300184 – Will Ferguson, I Was a Teenage Katima Victim, (1999), ISBN 9781550546521 – James Mahar and Rowena Mahar, Too Many to Mourn (1999), ISBN 9781551092409 – Joni Smith, Charlevoix County, (1999), ISBN 9780494516690

2000s Winners	Winning writer, Winning title, (award year), ISBN Wayson Choy, Paper Shadows, (2000), ISBN 9780312284152 – Taras Grescoe, Sacré Blues, (2001), ISBN 9781551990811 – Tom Allen, Rolling Home, (2002), ISBN 9780670884735 – Alison Watt, The Last Island, (2003), ISBN 9781550172966 – Andrea Curtis, Into the Blue, (2004), ISBN 9780679311355 – Anne Coleman, I'll Tell You a Secret, (2005), ISBN 9780771022784 – Francis Chalifour, After, (2006), ISBN 9780887767050 – Linden MacIntyre, Causeway, (2007), ISBN 9780002007245 – Bruce Serafin, Stardust, (2008), ISBN 9781554200337 – Russell Wangersky, Burning Down the House, (2009), ISBN 9780887623295

2000s Shortlist nominees	Nominated writer, Nominated title, (nomination year), ISBN Beth Powning, Shadow Child, (2000), ISBN 9780786707201 – Ellen Stafford, Always and After, (2000), ISBN 9780670886203 – Kevin Patterson, The Water In Between, (2000), ISBN 9780385498845 – Andrew Steinmetz, Wardlife, ISBN 9781550651218 – Howard Hewer, In For A Penny, In For A Pound, (2001), ISBN 9780385660778 – Mary Pratt, Mary Pratt, (2001), ISBN 9780864923165 – Trevor Herriot, River In A Dry Land, (2001), ISBN 9780773732711 – Nicholas Pashley, Notes on a Beermat, (2002), ISBN 9781554682560 – Gabriel Bauer, Waltzing the Tango, (2002), ISBN 9780199744480 – Ron Corbett, The Last Guide, (2002), ISBN 9781894673051 – Cornelia Johanna Baines, Under Syndenham Skies, (2002), ISBN 9781550416152 – Peter McSherry, Mean Streets, (2003), ISBN 9781550024029 – Adam Killick, Racing the White Silence, (2003), ISBN 9780141003733 – Dawn Rae Downton, Seldom, (2003), ISBN 9781559706650 – Ellen Bielawski, Rogue Diamonds, (2004), ISBN 9780295984193 – Kevin Bazzana, Wondrous Strange, (2004), ISBN 9780195182460 – Ralph Osborne, From Somewhere Else, (2004), ISBN 9781550225501 – Alex M. Hall, Discovering Eden, (2004), ISBN 9781552632215 – Tilda Shalof, A Nurse’s Story, (2005), ISBN 9780771080876 – Geoff Heinricks, A Fool and Forty Acres, (2005), ISBN 9780771040566 – Elizabeth Hudson, Snow Bodies, (2005), ISBN 9781896300740 – Michael Mitchell, The Molly Fire, (2005), ISBN 9781550226768 – Lisa Rochon, Up North, (2006), ISBN 9781552636909 – Rosalind B. Penfield, Dragonslippers, (2006), ISBN 9780802170200 – John Vaillant, The Golden Spruce, (2006), ISBN 9780393328646 – Kim Bolan, Loss of Faith, (2006), ISBN 9780771011306 – Marcello De Cintio, Poets & Pahlevans, (2007), ISBN 9780676977325 – Rachel Lebowitz, Hannus, (2007), ISBN 9781897141113 – Patrick Friesen, Interim Essays & Mediations, (2007), ISBN 9780973972702 – Nathan M. Greenfield, Baptism of Fire, (2008), ISBN 9780002007276 – Chantal Hébert, French Kiss, (2008), ISBN 9780676979077 – Jane Hall, The Red Wall, (2008), ISBN 9781897113684 – Martin Mitchinson, The Darien Gap, (2009), ISBN 9781550174212 – Cathy Ostlere, Lost, (2009), ISBN 9781554700431 – Andrew Westoll, The Riverbones, (2009), ISBN 9780771088759

2010s Winners	Winning writer, Winning title, (award year), ISBN John Leigh Walters, A Very Capable Life, (2010), ISBN 9781897425411 – Helen Waldstein Wilkes, Letters from the Lost, (2011), ISBN 9781897425534 – Joshua Knelman, Hot Art, (2012), ISBN 9781553658917 – Carol Shaben, Into the Abyss, (2013), ISBN 9780307360229

2010s Shortlist nominees	Nominated writer, Nominated title, (nomination year), ISBN Allan Casey, Lakeland, (2010), ISBN 9781553653080 – Else Poulsen, Smiling Bears, (2010), ISBN 9781553653875 – Benjamin Errett, Jew and Improved, (2011), ISBN 9781554684274 – Grant Lawrence, Adventures in Solitude, (2011), ISBN 9781550175141 – Robyn Michele Levy, Most of Me, (2012), ISBN 9781553656326 – Andrew Westoll, The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary, (2012), ISBN 9781554686490

Authority control	WorldCat Identities VIAF: 73126950 LCCN: n96097032

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