Broadfoot's technique for research was to sit down with people in pubs, family gatherings, trains or anywhere he could find people and he would ask them what did they do during the war. He taped their responses and then transcribed them into this book with very little if any editing. Their bad grammar and various prejudices including racist language are left in. As their names are not included, he could leave their responses verbatim.

He organized the responses which vary in size from a paragraph to several pages in rare instances by broad themes such as "In England", "Italy", "Booze", "Women", "Trains", "Joining Up", "P.O.W.'s", "Us and the Yanks" & "The Alaska Highway". One notices that no matter what category you are in, there is a strong
anti-government tone to many of the stories. Mackenzie King was not well like either.

Some of the stories told by individuals who were children during the war are especially poignant. Then there were the confessions by soldiers of wartime atrocities that they witnessed or took part in. What also comes out very clear for most of the men & women who lived through the period is that it was the best years of their lives and they would not have missed it for anything despite the danger and suffering.

Broadfoot also used the same technique in his earlier book entitled, Ten Lost Years: 1929-1939. ( )