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On the frigid Winnipeg morning of Feb. 19, 1942, Diane Edgelow’s mother sent her out to buy a loaf of bread. She was 12 years old and got the shock of her life when she crossed the bridge into downtown. “They were guarded by German... -
On April 1, 1942, Canada’s Minister of National War Services, Joseph T. Thorson, issued a statement advising his fellow citizens that the country’s human and material resources were being mobilized for total war. “Thus far Canada has been an essential and vital factor in holding... -
In 1917 and 1918, the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and its successor, the Royal Air Force (RAF), directed an ambitious flight training operation in Canada. The scheme had no precedent, but it inspired later, similar schemes—the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (1939-1945) and a general... -
In 1913, the militia was called out during a coal miners’ strike on Vancouver Island. Called the Great Strike of 1912-14, it was to be and remains the longest deployment of the militia in aid of the civil power in Canadian history. The immediate cause... -
During the Second World War, more than 2,300 women from across Canada were recruited to work in the DIL munitions factory When Louise Johnson got the call to contribute to Canada’s war effort in November 1942, she accepted immediately and never looked back or regretted... -
Early in 1943, an enticing notice offering jobs for men appeared in newspapers in Dallas, Denver, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, New York, St. Louis and Tulsa. It read: “Working and living conditions on this project are as difficult as those encountered on any...
Home Front
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The secret life at Camp X
It was 1942 and one evening 20-year-old Winnifred Davidson, known as Davey to her friends, was whisked away from Toronto in an unmarked maroon car and driven to an undisclosed location. When she arrived there, she was instructed, “Don’t tell anyone where you are or what you’re doing here.” That’s how Davidson began her...
