announcer: "Heroines in the Storm" is funded by Niagara-on-the-Lake Museum, the Milsom-Ferrabee Family, Royal Canadian Legion Branch 458 Tamworth, Royal Canadian Legion Branch 105 Cardinal, and Roger and Sandra Harris.

♪♪♪ announcer: "A CWAC knocked at the pearly gate.

Her face was scarred and old.

She stood before the man of fate for admission to the fold.

'What have you done,' St.

Peter asked, 'to gain admission here?'

'I've been a CWAC, sir,' she said, 'for many and many a year.'

The pearly gate swung open wide as St.

Peter touched the bell.

'Come in,' he said, 'and choose your harp.

You've already had your taste of hell.'"

Author, unknown.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [church bell ringing] [church bell ringing] [soldiers marching] announcer: For months, indeed for years, the shadow of impending conflict in Europe has been ever present.

Through these troubled years, no stone has been left unturned, no road unexplored in the patient search for peace.

Unhappily for the world, Herr Hitler and the Nazi regime in Germany have persisted in their attempt to extend their control over other peoples and countries and to pursue their aggressive designs in wanton disregard of all treaty obligations and peaceful methods of adjusting international disputes.

They have had to resort increasingly to agencies of deception, terrorism, and violence.

It is this reliance upon force, this lust for conquest, this determination to dominate throughout the world, which is the real cause of the war that today threatens the freedom of mankind.

announcer: On September 3, 1939, in a solemn address titled "Canada at the Side of Britain," Prime Minister Mackenzie King spoke to his country.

With carefully chosen words, King made obvious his intention to curb Germany's aggression.

Earlier the same day, England declared war on Germany.

Prime Minister Mackenzie King: This morning, the British ambassador in Berlin handed the German government a final note, stating that unless we heard from them by 11 o'clock, that they were prepared at once to withdraw their troops from Poland.

A state of war would exist between us.

I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received, and that consequently, this country is at war with Germany.

announcer: A week after Britain and France declared war on Germany, Canada entered the conflict on September 10, 1939.

In the fall of 1939, North America was still climbing out of the depths of the Great Depression.

Women were particularly hard hit by the economic devastation of the '30s.

Only 600,000 Canadian women had full-time work when Canada declared war on Germany.

Of those 600,000 women who were employed, many were single or widowed.

Sherry Pringle: Well, for the most part, women were homemakers, some university-educated or whatever, but certainly they play--they were, they played subservient roles to the male head of the household.

And now, they're stepping out of their comfort zone.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ announcer: Quickly, it became apparent women were needed as men joined Canada's increasing military efforts.

Not only were women needed on the home front to help fill jobs left vacant by men marching to war, women were about to serve increasingly important roles in Canada's armed forces.

It was often a decision that came with a hefty personal toll.

Sherry: It was foreign at the time.

It was foreign for a woman to go to join a service, and it was considered a man's world.

And why would you want to be in a man's world?

That was coming from their families, obviously.

And some of the women that I interviewed, you know, have been called names.

Their families disowned them.

One gal who spent a couple of years in England during the war with the service, never got one message from home, no letters, nothing, just ostracized like that.

Elizabeth Schieck: My brother had been lost and that he was in Africa with that El Alamein and Tobruk thing, and his plane was shot down.

As a matter of fact, there's a story in the Whig about it which Bea Corbett wrote.

And the Air Force man that I was to marry was in Britain.

He had served his tour.

He was a squadron leader in Yorkshire.

This was in April.

He was coming home in June.

We were to be married, and he was--his plane, on a peaceful mission training others, crashed in Yorkshire and he died.

So, I just decided it was time for me to do something different.

So, I joined the navy because I had nothing to do with the Air Force and my other brother was in the Army.

So, it's a military background.

My father didn't speak to me for six months.

announcer: Elizabeth Schieck's experience wasn't uncommon.

North Americans had the luxury of clinging to increasingly outdated paternal ideals.

Sherry: Some families were really opposed to the idea of their daughter, or their sister, or whatever going off to be in a service and working with men.

That was not a traditional role, and there was name-calling.

I'd heard that the service women have sort of put that out of their minds.

They were--they were determined enough that they were going to do this, that they were able to, you know, let that wash over them.

But it must have been terribly hurtful for the families in which you're out the door, you're in Britain and you're working for the war effort, and you are getting no letters or any kind of contact at all.

Elizabeth: Anyway, and Dad just didn't feel it was necessary for me to do that, but being of the same nature as Dad, I did.

Then I got--I didn't get called up as it is in the book because my father said that I was working for an essential industry, which at that time was the Montreal Light, Heat and Power, but it's Quebec Hydro now.

And they said I was part of an essential industry, and I thought, strange, I've had my medical, et cetera, et cetera.

And they said I'd be called within a couple of weeks.

And time went by, so I inquired and found out that my father in cahoots with another engineer had said I couldn't be called up because I was working for an essential industry, so we ended that and then I went to Galt as all Canadian Wrens all went to Galt for their basic.

announcer: In the early days following Canada's entry into the Second World War in the fall of 1939, thousands of Canadian men flocked to recruiting centers with no other prospects.

These men welcomed the offer of a coat, new boots, three meals, and $1.30 a day.

In the first four months of the war, more than 58,000 Canadians volunteered for the armed services.

Canadian women also wanted to serve their country, but the government was reluctant to enlist them in the armed forces except in medical and nursing roles.

Frustrated, many joined existing volunteer service organizations such as the Red Cross.

By the end of the war, the ranks of the Red Cross in Canada swelled to 15,000 women.

Close to 700 of those volunteers crossed the Atlantic, where they drove ambulances, supported patients, and assisted staff in military hospitals.

Those who stayed behind mobilized to make bandages, sew surgical gowns, and assemble food parcels for shipment overseas.

As the war ground on, these food packages were ultimately lifelines to prisoners of war who otherwise had no contact with the outside world.

announcer: Well, look at Beth Clark.

I've known her since we went to high school together.

To look at Beth, you'd think she was just another of those famous butterflies, but she joined up with the Canadian Women's Army Corps not long after it was formed.

♪♪♪ She was telling me all about it only last week about her first day as a recruit, signing up at the recruiting office.

announcer: By the second summer of the war, the initial flood of male recruits was slowing down at a time when demands on the services were increasing.

For the first time, serious consideration was given to the possibility of women entering the service in non-combat and non-medical roles.

Supporters of this idea were quick to point out the British had been employing women in a variety of uniformed positions since before the start of the war.

On April 2, 1941, representatives from the Canadian Army, Royal Canadian Navy, and RCAF met in Ottawa and decided there was no need to recruit women.

Three months later, the Air Force changed its mind.

Katherine McIntyre: And the last year, I guess, when I was in my fourth year at Queen's.

I decided that Queen's--there's a war on so that's when I joined the Air Force, but my life up to that had been a very privileged one.

I was a lucky girl.

I've always been lucky.

announcer: Katherine McIntyre was born Katherine McGrewer on May 20, 1923 in Toronto, Ontario.

Her father was a lawyer, and his success allowed Katherine to enroll in the prestigious Bishop Strachan School, a private girl's school not far from her family home.

From here, she attended Queen's University.

Katherine: One day, I thought there's a war on, so I went home and I said to my family, you know, I'm going to join the Air Force.

So, I joined the Air Force.

Why I joined the Air Force, I'm not quite sure.

I guess, it just had more glamour than maybe the army, and I didn't think I'd like to be on the ocean because I got seasick, so the navy was out.

announcer: Canada's European allies showed more haste in changing their attitudes toward women due to the bloody practicalities of war.

On the eastern front, the Soviet night witches terrified the Germans with a series of increasingly daring nighttime bombing raids.

Forty two-women crews flew retrofitted crop dusters, and old World War I biplanes equipped with bombs, stalling their engines and descending nose first into their targets, making an ominous whooshing sound before dropping their payload.

Sherry: There was an organization in Britain called ATA, Air Transport Auxiliary, and they were used to ferry planes from factories to troops.

And there was a small contingency of Canadian women who went to Britain and who flew air transport with the Air Transport Auxiliary, relocating planes all across Britain and, later in the war years, to behind enemy lines delivering planes, and they had no instrumentation training at all.

And they came into the--into their jobs with--with enough hours, for sure, of flying time, but with no instrumentation, it was limiting.

Like, you know, there was fog and whatever, and it was--it was almost a joke because the men would say, "If a plane was coming into view and it was foggy at all, it must be--must be those female ATA pilots because they fly in everything."

But they did--they did a great job.

It was--it was a great service that they provided.

announcer: In France, even though they had yet to gain the right to vote, women made up roughly 20% of the French resistance to occupying German forces.

By 1943, there were 74,000 women serving in England as Wrens.

Among the growing number of English Wrens was Frances Plomer, born Frances Randall, the youngest of five children.

James Plomer: And again, you know, when you think of the Wrens, and Mom was involved with the Wrens, she basically--that's how she met her--you know, my father.

But, you know, you go back into those times and--and nobody knew what the end result of the war would be and so, you never lived for the next day, you wanted to survive the day that you were in.

And in our generation, we think of, "Well, what's tomorrow gonna bring us?

Not what, you know, was happening today per se.

announcer: Wrens in England first saw service during the Great War, forming in 1917 before being disbanded in 1919.

When they reformed during World War II, women who were part of the Royal Naval Service, took up over 2000 jobs, freeing men for combat.

Before the war was over, more than 300 wrens were killed on wartime service.

Frances took one of the menial jobs that freed men for service.

She became a driver.

James: Basically, she was taught driving by Neville Shutes, I think it was.

And he basically taught her how to drive on a--at an Air Force base on the the runways, and became her chauffeur.

So, she got to know him very, very well.

There was another time when there was an air raid, but Mom came home and she had a whole bunch of missiles sitting in the back of the truck that she was driving, and pulled into the house where everybody sort of quickly went under the dining room table because of the air raids, and here there was a A truckload of missiles sitting out in the--on the driveway.

So, I guess there was some funny times when you look back at it that nothing happened, but you never know.

announcer: Frances Plomer quickly showed skills that made her valuable beyond the driving pool.

Her skill as a photographer found her taking pictures on navy cutters, patrolling the south of England.

From there, her work in the Admiralty Department found her working on experimental guns and targeting systems.

James: Well, of course, you know, when she got involved with the developing of--in the engineer department, and developing new technology for missiles, and detecting, and sonar, and other things that she was involved in, which was very, sort of, confidential.

announcer: By the age of 21, Frances found herself bound for Canada.

James: She had came over on a ship to Halifax and training some of the merchants on how to target shoot at drones and come over to help out and ensure that the drones were working properly, et cetera, for the merchants to practice on, and gliders sort of thing, as planes that would be shot at.

And on her way back to England, my dad noticed her boarding and made sure that he went to the captain and said to the captain, "Make sure she's sitting at our table because I'd like to meet her."

And so, the story goes on, but it was a very fast romance in a sense because of the war, and in those days those things did happen.

announcer: In Canada, Wrens were referred to as WRCNs.

For WRCNs like Elizabeth, once she worked up the nerve to tell her family she enlisted, the real work began.

Elizabeth: And then I went to Galt, as all Canadian Wrens all went to Galt for their basic.

You may not know that, but every Wren in Canada went to Galt, and there were not very many Wrens because we were late, we weren't formed until '42.

announcer: The Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service, known as Wrens, or WRCNs, were the last division formed.

They would count 7100 members in their ranks by the end of the war.

After her basic training, Elizabeth was assigned to HMCS Cornwallis for clerical work.

Elizabeth: Well, I went to Cornwallis HM for basic, what they called a writer, which was basically secretarial, and then I was drafted to Ottawa.

And I worked in--well, ran records and all kinds of things in the base in Ottawa, HMCS Bytown, and lived out in Dow's Lake, and then I got drafted overseas.

announcer: For many young Canadian women, World War II represented an opportunity to see the world.

For them, seeing the world came with feelings of excitement and apprehension.

Jean Vanwart: Suddenly, we began to move away and we realized that we're actually leaving our home, homeland.

And anyway, this first night we all felt kind of blue and we just sat on the floor.

And I-- They wanted somebody to sing, or recite, or something.

I did try, but it was just too much with all those strangers around and leaving home, and actually feeling that you were really leaving your country, and you were really on the ocean.

It was overpowering.

So, I only sang one-half of my song and another girl came over and finished it.

And so, that was our first night on board.

announcer: Crowded on ships, often packed beyond capacity with Canadian troops heading abroad, these women faced an increasingly treacherous ocean crossing.

Aircraft were effective in protecting merchant ships, but the Allied planes used earlier in the war didn't have enough range to offer air cover for convoys all the way across the Atlantic.

The central area of the ocean beyond aircraft range became known as the Black Pit, where many of the heaviest convoy losses occurred.

Elizabeth: I remember thinking, oh, crammed into a cabin for two people and there was one, two, three, four, five, but I had the bunk underneath the--the--what do you call it?

The hull.

female: Okay.

Elizabeth: Yeah.

So, and that--that was fine.

It was--the North Atlantic in January is not exactly pleasant.

The Canadian Corvettes could go so far to escort and the Brits would come so far.

And there's that gap, and that's where the Germans were very effective with their submarines and their, you know, torpedoing.

Fortunately, our ship wasn't torpedoed, so we got to Scotland like all the other military vessels, very crowded.

announcer: As the war continued to unfold, German U-boats increased pressure on the Atlantic shipping corridor between Canada and Great Britain.

Between 1939 and 1942, the Germans increased the number of U-boats from 30 to 300 and developed effective hunting techniques like using groups of submarines called wolf packs to attack convoys.

Their efforts initially paid off with 454,000 tons of shipping being lost to German U-boats in June 1941 alone.

Their successes continued as nearly 400 Allied ships were sunk between January and July 1942 while only seven U-boats were lost.

Jean: On the way over, we--one night we were told to leave our equipment beside us and our clothes on.

And we did, but of course there was a submarine around.

So, that was a little bit eerie.

But whatever happened, they--it was all clear by morning, and we chugged along until we got to Scotland.

Elizabeth: We used to have to have boat drill, for example.

And the Wrens were in a certain part and the certain troops, and we used to have to go from one deck to the other deck on what's called a scramble net and go down into the lifeboat, presuming that our ship was torpedoed and we were being rescued.

Had to do that every day.

announcer: By 1943, thousands of young Canadian women were scattered across the globe.

They supported men of the Allied forces and cared for civilians caught in the crossfire of war.

Roughly 45,000 Canadian women enlisted for military service over the course of World War II, and approximately one in nine served overseas.

In addition to the 7000 Wrens, there were 17,000 WDs and 21,000 Canadian Women's Army Corps members, the largest group of women to serve.

Among those 21,000 CWACs was Jean Vanwart, born Jean Annie Coulter.

Jean: My dad would have liked me to be a teacher--to become a teacher because my mother was.

But as soon as he said he thought I should be a teacher, I decided right then I wasn't going to be one.

announcer: Jean was born in 1919 to a farming family and raised in Quebec's eastern townships.

Growing up, she helped with daily chores and attended a one-room school before heading to high school.

Jean: So, we had 8 miles a day on the bicycle and then on four days we had the horse and buggy, and we left the horse in the town.

We had a stable for it and we always smelled a bit horsey in school, which was annoying.

announcer: Jean joined the CWACs in Ottawa in 1943.

Afraid her parents would object, she told nobody until after she enlisted.

When she finally told her father she signed up, he proudly put Jean's picture in the local paper, announcing his daughter had joined up.

Jean: Well, there's a college in Ottawa Jean: Well, there's a college in Ottawa and it had a sign up that recruits were required.

So, of course I looked into it and I had no trouble getting into it.

announcer: Most CWACs served in Canada, although four companies were posted to England.

Starting in 1944, some CWACs served at Allied headquarters in Rome, Alost, Belgium, and Brussels.

Members of the Canadian Women's Army Corps had to be at least 21 years old, in good health, and, according to a memo dated December 5, 1942 from the Canadian military headquarters in London, CWACs had to be of good character, suitable temperament, appearance, and smartness.

Jean: I went down there to sign up right away.

When they put the sign up that the women were wanted and allowed to become soldiers and go overseas, but they only wanted the washerwomen and the--and the people that scrubbed and that sort of thing, cooks, which I didn't care, but they did.

And they just said that I had too much education.

I couldn't be--couldn't join up right then for going out of the country.

So, I kept merrily on my way going from Gatineau to Ottawa in my little Jeep and having a great time.

And finally, we had a chance to go overseas.

announcer: Being posted overseas brought new challenges such as homesickness, culture shock, and mundane routine.

Elizabeth: Breakfast in the mess hall.

Get in the truck.

Go to the base, but I was--our commanding officer of Wrens in Scotland was Lieutenant Commander Jean Dunlop of Dunlop Tires in Toronto, you just forget that, and I was her--I don't--what do they call me today--secretary.

So, I knew all the, most of the Wrens that were in this, and Lieutenant Dunlop was in--Lieutenant Commander, rather, Dunlop was in charge of Canadian Wrens in that area, and I was her--in those days, we were called writers, literally.

And that's literally what we did.

Jean: I had never been overseas in my life and we saw all kinds of little towns and we had all kinds of experiences with the driving outfit.

We were all pretty good friends.

We had to take care of our own cars.

announcer: There was joy to be had in simple experiences too, as CWAC Luva Perry of Napanee, Ontario explained in a letter home from England dated November 6, 1942.

Her friend, Grace, received two eggs in the mail.

Parcels from home often contained jams, and candied fruits, and vegetables, but eggs were an exotic and rare treat.

"We fried them up last night over our spirits lamp in the lid of a tobacco can using the butter Aunt Ida sent," wrote Luva.

"It was some fun.

They were really good.

That was the second egg I had since I have been here."

announcer: The first blow aimed to crush the British spirit came on September 7. announcer: "I know it has been bad here, Mom, but believe me, we have seen very little of it.

Things have been cleaned up since the Blitz, and it's just like at home if a church were to burn down, you would miss it because you knew it was there.

But a stranger who had never seen it would not miss it.

Of course, this is very evident in places where a whole block of buildings are down," wrote Luva in a letter home dated April 18, 1944.

If the letter addressed, "Dear folks," was meant to calm any nerves back home, it may not have been entirely effective.

Luva described 12 hours of sirens crying out during blitz attacks and night skies glowing red from fires before ending her letter.

"It's been two weeks since we've had a raid.

I say don't worry about us regarding what may be in some of my letters.

You know the old saying, some people still don't realize there's a war on."

Jean: They had the bombs, little bombs, there was a V1 and V2.

And the V1, whichever one it was, I don't remember.

If you heard it, you had a chance to get out of the way, but if you didn't hear it, you were gone.

So, we were having a lecture one night in the field, calm.

And this--we heard the bomb, so we were all just sitting there waiting.

And I know that our instructor began to cry and the walls just went like this...and this bomb went right over us and landed in the common behind us and made a big hole.

But we were spared that night.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Shelly Alkenbrack: She wanted to go into nursing.

And she tried to apply and she was 17 and they said "No, you're too young, you have to come back when you're 18."

So, she went to secretarial school and one day, while they were having lunch, she overheard some friends talking about going to sign up.

So, they talked about it, their little group, and they all went to the office, recruiting office, and again, she was too young, so they said, "Come back when you're 18."

And she did a few months later.

announcer: Joyce Smith was born Joyce Plenderleith to Scottish immigrant parents in Winnipeg on May 29, 1925.

Her happy childhood disrupted first by the Great Depression.

Then when she was five, Joyce was struck with the sudden and tragic death of her mother.

Shelly: And so, she had a kind of a--a lonely childhood.

She was raised by her maternal grandmother, who was quite a totalitarian, you know, autocratic type.

And her father wasn't in the picture a lot because he was--you know, hard times.

He was having to work and just couldn't manage, you know.

The family felt that it would be better for her to have her grandparents and-- announcer: Joyce finally got to be part of the sisterhood when she turned 18 and was called up.

She was sent to Galt, Ontario for training.

From there, she eventually found her way to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she worked as a clerk and dreamed of serving overseas.

Shelly: So, she had a hard time, and I think just the thoughts of an adventure and joining a--a sisterhood of--of Wens would be, you know, just what she needed at the time.

She was a beautiful singer and she used to sing with the band called, I think it was the Mellow Men and Jo, Jo being short for Joyce.

And they've entertained, you know, at all the dances and whatnot on the bases, and sometimes travel to other places too.

And that was a big part of her life, she loved that, she loved to do that.

And there came an opportunity to go on a trip overseas to entertain, and she applied for it.

And when she went for her physical, everything else was fine.

But she went for her physical and she had a cold and they said, "Oh no, we think you have TB or pneumonia, but we have to check you out."

announcer: A hospital stay to determine if she had tuberculosis doomed her chance to entertain overseas.

Shelly: And she was devastated because there was not a lot of time left before this troop was to go.

And so, she was a week before they realized they'd made a mistake, that she didn't have anything sinister, just a cold.

And off sh--off they went.

They'd already gone and she lost her opportunity.

So, she was sad about that.

Joyce spent her remaining time in the service as a clerk at Halifax before being discharged in 1946.

She moved to Montreal to attend a design school.

There, she met and married Ken Smith, a dashing young naval officer.

Putting the war behind them, the couple moved to Eastern Ontario where they raised six children.

announcer: The Women's Army is taking over more operations jobs to relieve men for combat duty.

Here at an Air Force replacement base, the WACS, as they're called, serve as ground crews, service motors, repair ships.

Katherine: It was a prestigious job to work in the tower or--and though it was a small contingent, for instance, if you worked in the mess hall, there'd be about--there'd be ten times as many people working there as they would working in the tower.

announcer: When Katherine McIntyre arrived in Newfoundland, Gander was the largest airport in the world.

By 1940, it was playing a critical role in ferrying aircraft from North America to Britain.

Over the course of World War II, Canadian, American, and British troops all served at Gander, while more than 1500 Newfoundland civilians found employment there.

By 1945, the airfield consisted of four runways, hundreds of buildings, including barracks, hangars, and a hospital, and the most advanced communication system available.

Katherine: We worked in the tower which was very interesting, of course.

The girls, at night, were allowed to talk on the mic to--to bring the planes in.

And there was a certain things we said, you know, a plane would be coming in and they'd call out, "Gander Tower, do you read me?"

And they'd say, "We read a loud and clear."

And then they would have--there was a pattern to bring them in.

announcer: Sexist attitudes limited the way many women could contribute to the war effort.

Katherine: In the wisdom of men at that time, the girls wouldn't wouldn't be capable of doing that job at night.

So, we--we only worked in the daytime or if we went and worked in the tower at night, we were to log in the planes with a pencil that, you know, just write--write down what they had done.

But the women were certainly not front and center, but we were lucky to have the job at all, actually.

announcer: At its busiest, Gander saw squadrons arriving and leaving every ten minutes.

Heavy Newfoundland fog caused havoc to scheduling and wasn't unusual for planes and their crews to be grounded, often as much as 30 days at a time.

Thankfully, the Americans who also operated Gander brought with them American movies, American music, and a mess well stocked with food.

Katherine: Oh, I remember what a terrible thing that happened there because I was invited to a party by one of the Americans and it was--he was an officer.

So, I got--I had a dress sent up from Toronto for this big party.

And, you know, shoes, high heels, and socks, silk stockings.

And so, I went to the party and I walked in, and there was the WD officers, who was an absolute witch.

And so then, the next day I was put on charge and I've been a corporal, so I lost my corporal stripes for invading an American mess on New Year's Eve.

So--and I was quite happy being not a corporal anymore.

female: You were quite happy not being corporal?

Katherine: I didn't care.

I wasn't--didn't do you any--you got paid a little bit more, that was about--but you didn't have any responsibilities.

announcer: During World War II, close to 15,000 women from all walks of life were recruited to form the Canadian Red Cross Corps.

Close to 700 of these volunteers made their way to Britain.

The Canadian Red Cross wasn't alone in its efforts.

Soon, other service groups joined the ranks as well.

Also stepping up with volunteers was the Salvation Army.

Members arrived in England as Canadian Forces began training exercises.

The Salvation Army's mobile canteens supplied tired servicemen and servicewomen with coffee, doughnuts, chocolates, and cigarettes.

By early 1944, 70 Red Shield supervisors operated 30 centers and 55 mobile canteens in support of Canadian Army and Air Force units.

Elizabeth: The Salvation Army had a marvelous big--like a rec hall kind of a building where everybody went for their tea and goodies, and they were very good to us, and that's why the Salvation Army is particularly special.

They did so much without asking for anything back and cared for not only Canadian service people but all the allies, and that was a place where everybody met and they had food which we--we were fed, but this was different.

announcer: For Elizabeth Schieck, the recreation hall was more than a place to grab tea and goodies.

It was also the place she met her future husband.

Elizabeth: And that's really where we met and became acquainted and got--well, we were a couple, I guess, after a while.

And I can remember--I can remember Jeannie Dunlop saying, and to get into Niobe, which was walled, there were arches that you could go in in different parts.

And I'd be sitting at my desk and she'd be sitting at hers, and there'd be an arch like that, and Bill would drive his big huge truck in.

One day she turned to him and she said, "Williams, I don't know how she could drive through that arch while looking at you."

So, she knew what was going on all the time.

announcer: For the women of the Canadian Red Cross, another challenge awaited as the war came to an end.

Between 1945 and 1947, a delegation of 58 Red Cross volunteers escorted nearly 45,000 war brides and their 21,000 children on their transatlantic journey to Canada.

This was the largest mass migration of women and children in Canadian history.

For the servicewomen who returned home as war brides, there would be no grand welcome, just an awkward adjustment to a new life.

Jean: There was one thing that was a little bit disappointing, the--they gave dinners to all the war brides, and they didn't give me dinner 'cause I was Canadian.

And that, you know, that stuck-- I might cry--ever since that they would do that for the war brides and not for me, however.

announcer: As the war wound down, Canadian women who served found themselves increasingly trapped between a world where they were valued as members of the armed forces and a male-driven postwar world where they held little importance.

During 1946, all three women's services were disbanded and not activated again until the Korean War in the 1950s.

There were schemes in place for servicemen returning from war.

Servicewomen could take advantage of these government programs as well, but the programs were stacked in favor of the men returning from war.

Servicewomen were eligible for a $100 clothing allowance and the 30-day rehabilitation grant just like their male counterparts.

Sherry: Some of them were university students when they signed up.

They put their life on hold in order to do their bit for the country.

And so, when they came home, they returned to university.

Some went back, some were retrained, you know, seemed to be seamstress or might have been more formal training, it might have been for trade, or some of them just took up family life.

announcer: Dr.

Olive Ruth Russell, executive assistant of the Department of Veterans Affairs, was almost bragging when she noted in March of 1945 that no other country had gone as far as Canada in abolishing sex discrimination and the granting of equal status to women in its legislation aimed at ex-service personnel.

In reality, there were large gaps in the postwar programs that women often fell through.

Pensions were based on service pay, and women had been paid on average only four-fifths the wages of a serviceman.

If women managed to find their way into the limited openings for vocational training or university programs, they faced limited job opportunities as labor shortages disappeared and government-sponsored daycare came to an end.

Women were pushed back into the role of homemaker and mother.

Katherine: I went back to university for a while, but I didn't stay very long.

And then I started writing and I go--and reading for the telegram.

So I--I was once called a freelance writer for the telegram, the newspaper.

female: And what sorts of things did you write for the telegram?

Elizabeth: Oh, anything came into my head.

Oh, I know what happened.

One thing, I got married.

James: And of course, dad was stationed in St.

John's, he'd been in Halifax, Cornwallis, Victoria, but I mean, prior to all that, when they married, she was basically in tow, but she was--she was the one that ran the family because she was always at home and basically gave up her career.

announcer: In the spring of 1944, 72% of Canadian servicewomen polled by the Department of Labor said they wanted to remain in the workforce after the war.

Societal and economic forces pushed most of these women back into the home.

An ex-servicewoman from Winnipeg writing for the Canadian Home Journal in April of 1945, warned that sending women back home was like putting a chick back into the shell, it cannot be done without destroying spirit, heart, or mind.

Others voiced a desire, too, for domesticity.

"One thing I would like to make clear," wrote a contributor to National Home Monthly in 1945, "I do not feel I am sacrificing myself for housekeeping.

The thing I wanted most was a husband and a home of my own."

James: My mom really never talked about what she had accomplished or did in her life, prior to coming to the--you know--to the--to the county.

But all the people knew that she was very dignified and very much of a--very much of a lady, and she always used to have her afternoon teas in 4 o'clock.

And it was every Sunday we would have a 1 o'clock meal with probably roast beef and potatoes.

And the roast beef would be gray, but that's okay.

announcer: As the 1940s came to an end, post-war restrictions on women working outside the home took effect.

The participation of women in the paid workforce declined sharply.

As early as 1946, women's participation plummeted to only a quarter of the paid workforce.

The rate continued to slide throughout the 1950s.

Only in the 1960s did the rate of women working outside the home, begin to climb.

It would take until 1966 for women to occupy the same percentage of the Canadian workforce as they had in 1945.

As the decade of the 1960s continued to unfold, women eventually made up one-third of the workforce but still earned 59 cents for every dollar a man earned.

Wage discrepancies and a lack of opportunities would plague women in the workforce for decades to come.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ announcer: More information on this program can be found at wanderingjournalist.com/ heroines-in-the-storm.

"Heroines in the Storm" is funded by Niagara-on-the-Lake Museum, the Milsom-Ferrabee Family, Royal Canadian Legion Branch 458 Tamworth, Royal Canadian Legion Branch 105 Cardinal, and Roger and Sandra Harris.