Michael L. Hadley – författare

This commemorative volume produced on the occasion of the centennial of the Canadian Navy, 1910-2010, records a special kind of dual citizenship: Canadians exercising the profession of the sea in their nation’s service, while also living out the demands of their civilian occupations in their home communities. The perspectives of the part-time citizen-sailors who have made up Canada’s Naval Reserve over the past century provide an interesting, valuable, and timely alternative history of the Canadian Navy.

Most of the contributors to this volume have served in Canada’s Naval Reserve, and all are respected authorities in their fields. Whether read on its own, or as the intended companion to The Naval Service of Canada, 1910-2010: The Centennial Story, readers will find much to delight and inform in this lavish combination of text, photos, and illustrations of the people, ships, and aircraft that have formed a proud national institution.

Ce livre commémoratif, produit à l’occasion du Centenaire de la Marine canadienne 1910–2010, traite d’une double citoyenneté particulière : celle des Canadiens exerçant le métier de la mer au service du Canada, tout en répondant aux devoirs de leurs activités civiles, chez eux, dans leur communauté. Les points de vue de ces citoyens marins à temps partiel, qui ont constitué la Réserve navale du Canada au cours des cent dernières années, offrent une autre histoire intéressante, utile et opportune de la Marine canadienne.

La plupart des personnes ayant contribué à ce livre ont servi dans la Réserve navale du Canada, et tous sont des autorités respectées dans leur domaine. Lu isolément ou comme complément du livre Le service naval du Canada, 1910-2010 : Cent ans d’histoire (Dundurn, 2009), les lecteurs trouveront beaucoup de plaisir et d’information dans cette riche combinaison de textes, de photos et d’illustrations de personnes, de navires et d’aéronefs qui ont formé une fière institution nationale.

A member of the so-called Silent Generation, Michael Hadley has a great deal to say in his twilight years. Opening with his Depression-era childhood on a lonely lighthouse on the west coast of Vancouver Island, this remarkably nuanced memoir spans decades, countries, and oceans.

Hadley’s reflections move through his years growing up in wartime Vancouver in the 1940s, his concert tours on the British vaudeville stage in the 1950s, and his early teaching career in Manitoba in the 1960s. He shares his naval service on both coasts and on the Great Lakes, and his professional experience in Germany, where unexpected friendships with former submariners trigger an interest in how countries deal with difficult wartime pasts. 

Human conflict, ethics, and multi-faith engagement in criminal justice reform and Restorative Justice shape Hadley’s understandings of reconciliation, taking him on prison visits across Canada, the UK, and Uganda. Whether examining ancient historical sites and battlegrounds, navigating at sea, or riding camels in the desert, he seeks universal patterns of human experience. At once a deeply personal chronicle of a fascinating life and a measured, mature reflection on some of the most cataclysmic events of the past century, Come by Chance is an unforgettable journey that will leave readers reflecting on the experiences that affect us all.