Courage And Sacrifices

 Elsie MacGill was Chief Aeronautical Engineer at one of the Canadian war plants making planes for the war- in fact she would be known as the Queen of the Hurricanes for her innovations to that fighter.

George Reynolds spent his war as an instructor, teaching new pilots the skills they needed to fight in the air.

Twin brothers- Grant and Roy Campbell. They served in the air war and died a month apart. Imagine the impact on the family at home: both of them. And yet countless families would suffer enormous losses, with young men who would never see home again.

Roy's uniform jacket is here, along with items belonging to Grant.

Even at home you weren't safe. Munitions worker Albert Soque won the George Medal for civilian bravery saving the life of a co-worker in a fire.

Minnie Gray would go to war as part of the Canadian Women's Army Corps, getting opportunities she wouldn't have had at home as an African-Canadian woman.

This is her uniform.

This quilt was made by a London woman on her nights in bomb shelters during the height of the Blitz.

George Boyer served at sea, starting in the Pacific but ending up in the dangers of the Atlantic campaign.

Gwendoline Green met her husband, a Canadian serviceman, by chance in England. Later she would marry him.

And here's the suit she wore on their wedding day.

I close out today with a book that was distributed to British war brides who would end up accompanying their husbands home after the war, explaining how life in Canada had some differences with what they had known in Britain.