Cross-Border Warriors: Canadians in American Forces, Americans in Canadian Forces Review

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Cross-Border Warriors: Canadians in American Forces, Americans in Canadian Forces ReviewCanadian military historian Fred Gaffen's book Cross Border Warriors attempts to fill in the gaps in Canadian and American military history. He shares detailed anecdotes of the Americans who fought in the Royal Canadian Forces and the Canadians who fought for the American military, while grounding their stories deep in a macro-historical analysis of the conflicts and cooperation between the two nations. He recognizes both the strong anti-American sentiment in Canada and the occasional fear of Americans that Canada was about to attack the U.S. Ultimately, he wants to tell the stories of the 60,000 American and Canadian citizens who served in each other's armed forces since 1812.
Gaffen begins with the American Civil War, which is commonly thought of as an American only conflict, but it had a definite impact on Canada as well, not only because many Canadians served in the American Union and Confederate armies, but because the civil war was the backdrop for Canadian confederation. As skeptical as Canada's founding fathers were of the civil unrest in the United States, many Canadians "with a taste for adventure " enlisted in the American forces both North and South. Many Canadians also fell prey to crimpers from the States who enticed them under false pretenses or even drugs and alcohol to join the war in the States, usually taking the place of someone rich enough to buy his way out of service.
Crimping occurred on both sides of the border, however, and in World War I before the U.S. joined the war, Americans were crimped into duty for the Canadians. The American Foreign Enlistment Act of 1818 was supposed to prevent such abuses in recruiting, and it was finally enforced and the crimping came to a halt. Canada joined WWI in 1914, two and a half years before the U.S., and since the U.S. was officially neutral, it could not compel or explicitly let its men fight for the Canadians.
However, Canadian minister of defense Sam Hughes assembled a brigade of Americans living in Canada to fight overseas, and then when America joined the war, an agreement was reached that Canada, the U.S., and Britain could all draft each other's citizens into any of their armed forces. Many Americans chose to join the British Air Force for the chance to fly.
It is interesting to note that despite this seemingly open cooperation and trust between the two countries during WWI, the U.S. and Canada both had contingency plans in case of attack or invasion by the other or by Britain before World War II. When Canada entered WWII, many Americans crossed the border to join the Canadian Air Force Special Reserve, which they could do without losing their citizenship. They would take an oath of obedience to the Canadian army, but not an oath of allegiance, and therefore retain their American citizenship. However, when the U.S. entered the war in 1941, many Americans returned to the U.S. forces because of national pride and better compensation.
Canada also had the Clayton Knight committee dedicated to recruiting American pilots to fly for the Royal Canadian Air Force, which many Americans joined because of the more relaxed education and training requirements.
Canadian participation in American conflicts in Korea, Vietnam, and the Persian Gulf was much less pronounced, mostly because of the smaller scale of these wars and less need for foreign soldiers. Canada did send a brigade of its own to fight in Korea, but most Canadians who fought in that war did so under U.S. command. Generally, Canadian Korea veterans had a much more positive experience than Canadian Vietnam veterans. Many Canadians went to fight for the U.S. in Vietnam seeking glory and adventure, but they were sadly disappointed, and most felt "used and abandoned by the American government." More Canadian veterans than American suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder caused by the horrors of Vietnam and they receive less public support. Canadian Vietnam veterans face considerable hostility from the Canadian public, and they are treated even more as outcasts than American Vietnam veterans in the U.S. Canadian involvement in the Persian Gulf war was limited mostly to Canadians already living in the U.S. or special forces assigned to help with the battle.
Through detailed historical facts and personal anecdotes, Fred Gaffen makes an important contribution to the often neglected soldiers who fought across borders in the past two centuries. He provides the recognition that these brave men and women deserve and have often not received. He emphasizes the important and lasting ties that veterans from Canada and the United States keep to this day, and hopes that the two countries will continue their friendly relations and willingness to help a neighbor in times of crisis.Cross-Border Warriors: Canadians in American Forces, Americans in Canadian Forces Overview

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