It's been almost four years in the making, but Harley Lashbrook's book, a collection of photos and stories about local men and women who served in WWll, is finally done.

"It's a hell of a load off my mind," said Lashbrook, local history expert. "Some of the stories are just unbelievable."
It's called 'West Elgin At War'. The book includes over 250 pictures of service men and women from Rodney, West Lorne, and the former Aldborough Township, as well as short bios on 150 other people whose pictures were not available. The book also includes some letters and stories that were published in the Rodney Mercury Sun newspaper from 1939-46.

"I want more people to be able to see what these guys and girls went through. The more you delve into it, the more you want to," said Lashbrook.
Lashbrook got the idea for this book four years ago when he decided to look up information on local WWll veterans, and found there wasn't much available covering people from West Elgin and area.

"The only information I could find was a book published by Dutton in 1946," he said. "So I thought, when I get some time, I'm going to see what I can come up with."

Lashbrook spent much of the next four years visiting local libraries, consulting old newspapers, and by gathering old photos and personal histories from people around the community.

Lashbrook also paid two visits to the Military Archives in Ottawa in November 2009, and April, 2010, to see if he could find out anymore about some people he knew served in the War, but he didn't have much on.

"When I could see that I was never going to get the information about many of the local people, I wondered if I could get into the Archives in Ottawa. So I talked to our Member of Parliament, Joe Preston, and he went to bat for me," said Lashbrook. "Had it not been for Joe, I don't think we would have been able to get in there to get the information."

On the front cover of the book read the words, "Lest we forget". Lashbrook says that's what this book is all about.
A limited number of these books will be published. They will be sold for $50 a piece.