MY FATHER’S SIBERIAN ODYSSEY 
     
    
   
   
    
     Preface 
     
    
   
   
    
     It may seem strange to characterize my father’s journey 
     
     to Siberia as an odyssey which usually signifies a long, 
     
     difficultjoumey with heroic overtones. Certainly, it was 
     
     long enough in that there are 7,500 miles from the East Coast 
     
     of Canada to Vladivostok Ulysses may have traveled fewer 
     
     miles. The terrors of the sea were present in that the 
     
     “Prolescelaus” encountered two separate storms of hurricane 
     
     force six days apart within a week of leaving Victoria, BC. 
     
     In his introduction to “The Adventures of Ulysses”, Karl 
     
     Kerenyi writes “that the word ‘Odyssey’ has been used for 
     
     dangerous journeys to uncertain goals, such as millions of 
     
     men had to undertake in the last two World Wars.” Were the 
     
     men and the one woman whojourneyed to Siberia in 1919 
     
     with the Canadian Forces in any way heroic? I suppose it 
     
     would depend on their expectations of what the trip would 
     
     bring and their personal reasons for joining the CSEF. 
     
    

    
     Many had served in France while others who entered service 
     
     for the first time were all too aware of the destruction in 
     
     human life that was likely to attend any military action. 
     
    
   
   
    
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