25-08-04, 05:32
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Aunt
An aunt with the Navy, WW2 ...
WRCNS:/A
1942-1945
Quote:
Rédactrice de la Marine
Ruthanne Urquhart navyeditor@canada.com
Wrens mark 60th anniversary
Image: COURTESY OF THE / AVEC LA PERMISSION DU NAVAL
MUSEUM OF ALBERTA
Some early groundbreakers for the Canadian women's movement
gathered in Halifax's Grand Parade April 29 to mark the 60th
anniversary of the standing up of the Women's Royal Canadian Naval
Service.
More than 50 former Wrens, as they were referred to almost immediately after
the WRCNS was stood up, participated in a commemorative parade and flag
raising ceremony. The weather was East Coast Spring at its worst-cold,
blustery, wet- but the Wrens scoffed at the suggestion that the ceremonies be
moved indoors. They had marched in worse than that, they agreed.
"They marched as if they'd been marching for the last 55 years," said
Maritime Forces Atlantic (MARLANT) Public Affairs Officer Lt(N) Pat Jessup.
"You could see such pride in their faces, to have been Wrens and to
have served their country."
The WRCNS was established in 1942 to free up badly needed sailors for sea
duty. Wrens performed duties that in the Second World War era were utterly
nontraditional for women. They maintained anti-submarine equipment and
aircraft; they practically took over East Coast cryptography, communications,
signaling, and wireless telegraphy, and contributed in many other fields; and
they earned the reputation for being able to drive anything over any kind of
road in any weather, all in support of the war effort. Of the 6 665 who served
during the Second World War, about 1 000 served overseas, many in Northern
Ireland and Scotland, and more than 500 in Newfoundland, the island nation
off Canada's East Coast still four years away from becoming a province.
"You helped shape the women's movement for the last 30 years. You
were, I believe, trailblazers, pathfinders,"
Rear-Admiral Bruce MacLean, Commander MARLANT, said during his
address. "You had an important influence on two generations of
daughters."
"We thank them," said Halifax Mayor Peter Kelly, "for their
outstanding service to our country in wartime, and throughout their lives as
active community members."
Marching with the Wrens were female members of MARLANT, Halifax
Regional Police, and the RCMP, as well as a Royal Canadian Legion Colour
Guard and a contingent from the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires.
As members of the Stadacona Band played "Heart of Oak", Mable Clarke and
Petty Officer, 2nd Class S. Legge raised the White Ensign which flew at
Halifax City Hall during Battle of the Atlantic Week.
Visit collections.ic.gc.ca/navy/wrens.htm for more information about the
WRCNS.
The Girls of the King's
Navy is a song recorded by Wrens at Halifax's
Canadian Navy Training Center in 1943, and a book written by Rosamond
Greer in 1983. Both commemorate the women who served.
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