About Me
My grandfather was killed in Normandy in the summer of 1944, and I was profoundly moved when I found the road just south of Caen where his Second World War ended. His story and the Second World War's impact on my family inspired me to dedicate my career to studying Canada’s military history.
I have a Ph.D. in Canadian history from the University of Manitoba (2009), an M.A. in Canadian history from Carleton University (1999), and a Bachelor of Education from the University of Manitoba (1997). I have been researching, writing, teaching history, and touring battlefields and Holocaust memorial sites for more than 30 years.
I have three daughters, who recently joined me on a tour of Normandy and the Great War’s Western Front. The highlight of the tour was the moment when we visited my grandfather’s grave together.
Dr. Jody Perrun
History Department
University of Winnipeg
Media
In this Global News interview for Remembrance Day 2023, I talk about how my research allowed me to find the spot in Normandy where my grandfather was killed in 1944.
Select Publications
Books:
The Patriotic Consensus: Unity, Morale, and the Second World War in Winnipeg (Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2014).
Articles:
“Worth the Cost: Bombing, Overlord, and the RCAF,” RCAF Journal 8:2 (Spring 2019).
“Burning Off the Autumn Mist: The RCAF in the Ardennes Air Campaign, December 1944-January 1945,” RCAF Journal 8:2 (Spring 2019).
“Supporting the Airborne: The RCAF in Operations Neptune and Market Garden,” RCAF Journal 8:2 (Spring 2019).
“The Spirit of Service,” in Esyllt Jones and Gerald Friesen, eds., Prairie Metropolis: New Essays on Winnipeg Social History (Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2009), 160-186.
“The Struggle at Home: Canadian Families and the Second World War,” in Serge Bernier and John MacFarlane, eds., Canada, 1900-1950: A Country Comes of Age (Ottawa: Organization for the History of Canada, 2003), pp. 87-98.
“Best Laid Plans: Guy Simonds and Operation Totalize,” Journal of Military History 67:1 (January, 2003), 137-174.
Book reviews:
Review of Jim Blanchard, A Diminished Roar: Winnipeg in the 1920s (Winnipeg: UMP, 2019), Canadian Historical Review 102:3 (Sept. 2021), pp. 520–521.
“The Great War in Canada’s Prairie West,” review of James M. Pitsula, For All We Have and Are: Regina and the Experience of the Great War (Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2009). H-Net book review, November, 2009 (http://www.h-net.org/reviews).
“Re-examining a Canadian Icon,” review of Geoffrey Hayes, Andrew Iarocci, and Mike Bechthold, eds., Vimy Ridge: A Canadian Reassessment (Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2007). H-Net book review, August 2007 (http://www.h-net.org/reviews).
“National History through the Local Lens,” review of Serge Marc Durflinger, Fighting from Home: The Second World War in Verdun, Quebec (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2006). H-Net book review, August 2006 (http://www.h-net.org/reviews).
Review of Brian A. Reid, No Holding Back: Operation Totalize, Normandy, August 1944 (Toronto: Robin Brass, 2005), Canadian Historical Review 88:3 (Sept. 2007).
Conference presentations:
“The RCAF’s Contributions to D-Day and the Battle of Normandy,” Canadian Aviation Historical Society, Winnipeg chapter, 6 June 2019.
“Family Morale and the Second World War,” The Legacy of Great Wars: Marking History and Humanity, J.W. Dafoe Political Studies Students’ Conference, Winnipeg, 30 January 2015.
“The War Within the War: Ukrainian Nationalists and Communists in Winnipeg, 1939-1945,” Becoming Canadian: Ukrainian Canadians and the Second World War, Winnipeg, 11-12 November 2011.
“Manipulating the Patriotic Consensus: Victory Loan Spectacles in Winnipeg, 1941-1945,” Varieties of Experience: Views of the Two World Wars, Université de Caen, France, 29-30 November 2007.
“Save to Beat the Devil!” Propaganda and Persuasion in Winnipeg’s Second World War Victory Loan Campaigns,” Society for Military History annual meeting, Frederick, Maryland, 21 April 2007.
“Winnipeg’s Voluntary War Services during the Second World War,” 17th Annual Military History Colloquium, University of Western Ontario, 6 May 2006.
“Operation Totalize: 7-10 August 1944,” Canadian Aviation Historical Society, Winnipeg chapter, January 2005.
“Dining at Separate Tables: Heavy Tactical Air Support in Operation Totalize, 7-10 August 1944,” 5th Annual Air Force Historical Conference, CFB Borden, 23 June 1999.
“The Missed Opportunity: First Canadian Army and Operation Totalize, 7-10 August 1944,” 10th Annual Military History Colloquium, Wilfrid Laurier University, 8 May 1999.