My total time in the CWAC was four years and four months give or take a month or two. Joined up at Work Point Barracks in Esquimalt, B.C., (now referred to as Greater Victoria) I the fall of 1941.
I went to Vermillion, Alberta for Basic Training. In January of 1943 I travelled first class to Sainte Anne de Belevue on draft for overseas. We sailed on the Queen Elizabeth, and docked at Greenoch. Overnight to Alton via Reading. We bypassed London as an Air Raid was in progress. We offloaded at Alton and trucked to Borden, only to be awakened at 05:00 hrs, by Bofors. (Ak Ak guns). Apparently we had several around our area- five rounds each and they sounded as if we were in the middle of it! Most of us ran to the air Raid shelters just outside our Nissen huts. After a few weeks of that, no one batted an eye. So we said to ourselves, "Welcome to England"
We were in Apledoorn, Holland, and one night after lights out I was under the covers, with a flashlight, reading to my lower Bunk Mate from "A Maid and a Million Men". The noise from our insane giggling disturbed our Sergeant, (a typical bossy old you- know- what). While she was yelling at us to pipe down, my partner Mabel grabbed a boot and chucked it. The boot went over the wall into the Sergeant's cubicle. Instead of rising and screaming at us, she calmly said, "Ok, girls, you've had your fun. We will have inspection tomorrow, and woe betide the one with only one boot." Dead silence!
That started me thinking- now what? I slipped down from my bunk, groped around and found two of Mabel's boots and you guessed it- only one of mine. I swore to Mabel, "If the German's don't get you, I will!" We then quietly slipped down to the ablution rooms for a smoke and some serious discussion. By this time, two other girls had joined us. We stayed there until about 02:00 hours. Finally I said, "Right! Off to bed you kids. I'm going to get my boot" More laughter. Ha !! Then: Shhhhhhh…. So they all went to bed and waited. As you know the walls of the cubicles come down to within a foot of the floor. I layed down on the floor and slid very slowly hardly daring to breathe, underneath the partition and under her bed. I groped around and brought back every shoe I could find. Mabel was at my feet receiving them. Morning came and the egg hit the fan. Everyone was standing looking like butter wouldn't melt in his or her mouths. We were all fully booted and spurred- Mattresses pulled up, blankets neatly folded, and shoes neatly in a row at the foot of the bed. The only present with no shoes was the Sergeant. You know, I had the feeling she was about to explode, but we all lived to see another day.
When in Holland in 1945 ,while cashiering at the Canadian Army Gift Shop, a Captain Charles from the Knight's of Columbus Canteen complained that his helper had repatriated back to Canada and he was short of a helper. Captain Charles was head of the entire Knight's of Columbus Canteens and Supplies in the Netherlands. During conversation it was mentioned that I could handle the canteen and the money. The next thing I knew I had the job. It turned out to be most interesting with a lot of travel taking me to all the Army Canteens throughout Holland. A bonus to this job was when I was flown to London to carry Canteen reports and deliver them personally to the Knight's of Columbus Headquarters. Following this delivery I was given a five-day pass in England. This bonus occurred three times while I was in Holland.
