A meteorological officer in the Royal Canadian Navy, McElheran studied at the Royal Naval College in Greenwich and served at naval air stations in southern England. During a V-1 attack, he was seriously injured when his rooming house in Greenwich was hit. Taken to the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, famous for its pioneering work in plastic surgery, he underwent several operations and months of treatment. Earlier in Canada, McElheran worked in operations rooms in Ottawa and Halifax. His memoir also includes previously untold stories of naval warfare off Canada's east coast. Using the journal that he kept at the time as his primary source, McElheran combines personal experience, anecdote, and historical fact in this account of a tense but exhilarating time. Written for the general reader, the mood varies from riveting drama to delightful humour, and the author's personal experiences are placed within the larger historical context of World War II.