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Recruitment ad published in the Transcona News
1942
Transcona, Manitoba, Canada

Credits:
Transcona News

15

Mr. Jim Potter tells how quickly men joined up for active service
23 September 2004
Transcona, Manitoba, Canada

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"A lot of the chaps my age my generation were all of a sudden not there, they had enlisted in the armed services of some kind."

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Hundreds of Transcona residents, both men and women, were accepted upon enlistment and served in Canada's armed services and merchant marine during World War II. Many of these individuals made the ultimate sacrifice for their country and its highest values of freedom, democracy, and human rights.

"Since so many young men were in the service, the whole town was deeply involved in the war. Land was set aside for Victory Gardens and everyone was urged to conserve so they could buy Victory Bonds. Ration books were distributed to each family. Everyone kept an ear to the radio to get the latest news of the fighting. Families waited anxiously for letters from their loved ones. All these letters were censured in case something had been written that could give aid to the enemy. There wasn't a family in the whole town that was not affected in some way by the war." (by Joyce Hinds, Not Earthtones But Rainbows, page 115)

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Advertisement from Transcona Merchants Limited in support of the 1941 Victory Loan campaign
1941
Transcona, Manitoba, Canada

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Things began to changes at the CNR Railway Shops. Workers from the Motive Power, Car Department, Stores and Administration offices began to join up. So did the railroaders who were running the trains, like Engineers, Firemen, Brakemen, Conductors and others?

"... things were different, you began to realize that there were less and less Carmen Apprentices working in the Shops because the others had gone off to the services and there weren't many of us left actually, I guess maybe a dozen or fifteen something like that that were left behind."

20

Gasoline Ration Book WWII
1941
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

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Women also experienced drastic changes brought on by the war. They were called upon as volunteers, both to serve in uniform in the women's division of the army, navy or air force and to work in munitions factories.

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Recruitment ad for women
21 September 1944
Transcona, Manitoba, Canada

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Many women took on the task of raising families. The war made widows out of women whose husbands were still alive but gone for years at a time. Burdened with the task of raising children without fathers, they had to cope with loneliness and fear.

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Royal Canadian Air Force uniform
1943
141 Regent Avenue West, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

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The women at home did most of the work for the War Efforts Committee. These women did not face the deprivations of their counterparts in war-torn Europe, but were forced to scrimp and conserve as part of a national program to contribute to the war effort.

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The Queen and Leading Airwoman D. Ryan Davie of Transcona
9 September 1944
Canadian Bomber Station, Great Britain

Credits:
Transcona News

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On any given day you could see work being done for the War Efforts Committee, whether it was collecting money, or people knitting on the bus with wool and patterns supplied by the Salvation Army or Red Cross. Clothing was always an issue for the soldiers over seas and women did what they could to help out.