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Vera Peel served with the Royal Canadian Air Force, Women's Division during the Second World War.
Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.
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![]({"id":"04ba56bd-d12f-40b0-b6e9-135fedf2486f","disk":"s3","directory":"The-Memory-Project\/image","filename":"8445_600","extension":"jpg","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","aggregate_type":"image","size":42167,"variant_name":null,"original_media_id":null,"created_at":"2022-08-03T00:17:42.000000Z","updated_at":"2022-08-03T00:17:42.000000Z","title":"Memory Project Image #8445","alt":"","caption":"Right: 60th Anniversary pin commemorating the Women's Division reunion in Edmonton in 2001. Left: Cap badge worn on the WD uniform","creator":"Memory Project Image #8445 - Veteran #1940","source":"","conversion_urls":{"original":"https:\/\/d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net\/The-Memory-Project\/image\/8445_600.jpg"},"url":"https:\/\/d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net\/The-Memory-Project\/image\/8445_600.jpg","credit":"","pivot":{"mediable_id":"03fe6b78-97e4-4129-a2fd-3af172ae3bf5","media_id":"04ba56bd-d12f-40b0-b6e9-135fedf2486f","mediable_type":"App\\Models\\Article","tag":"gallery","order":2},"translations":[{"id":"1e197748-a3d7-4fda-a758-2f08d899d614","media_id":"04ba56bd-d12f-40b0-b6e9-135fedf2486f","title":"Memory Project Image #8445","alt":"","caption":"Right: 60th Anniversary pin commemorating the Women's Division reunion in Edmonton in 2001. Left: Cap badge worn on the WD uniform","creator":"Memory Project Image #8445 - Veteran #1940","source":"","locale":"en","credit":""},{"id":"4f852708-6c7f-48ff-bb0f-0e5d842ed887","media_id":"04ba56bd-d12f-40b0-b6e9-135fedf2486f","title":"Memory Project Image #8445","alt":"","caption":"A droite : broche comm\u00e9morative \u00e0 l'occasion de la r\u00e9union du 60<sup>\u00e8me<\/sup> anniversaire de la Division F\u00e9minine \u00e0 Edmonton en 2001.\rA gauche : \u00e9cusson de couvre chef de l'uniforme de la Division F\u00e9minine.","creator":"Memory Project Image #8445 - Veteran #1940","source":"","locale":"fr","credit":""}]} "Memory Project Image #8445")
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Transcript
I joined the RCAF Women's Division in 1942, in August, and took my basic training down at Rockcliffe. Then I was stationed at No. 6 Repair Depot, Trenton. When I went in, I went in as general duties. I wasn't sure what I was going to do. I was assigned to work in the orderly room, distributing the DROs [Daily Routine Orders] around the station. Then the Adjutant asked me if I'd like to get a trade. I said, "Oh, yes!" because it meant more money. So I took a trade as a canteen steward, which meant the men could go off to war in a better position. The motto for the Air Force girls was, "We Serve That Men May Fly." I was in the canteen for three years, and enjoyed it very much. We were the first WDs [Women's Division] to go to the No. 6 Repair Depot in October of 1942, and I spent all my time there at Trenton. I enjoyed it very much. I met many girls that I still keep in contact with. I found that the comradeship will never fail. It's still going today, and this coming June in 2006, we have a reunion in Winnipeg for the RCAF WDs and WAAFs [Women's Auxiliary Air Force], and this will be our sixty-fifth anniversary, when the WDs were formed in 1941. I enjoyed every minute of it. The jobs were different for different girls, but I enjoyed very much what I was doing, and coming from the west, I enjoyed being down east. Other than that, I enjoy the Memory Project very much. I have spoken to the children at the school in Bridgenorth, and they enjoyed hearing the veterans talk of their experiences, and my father, being a First World War Veteran… I had his medals, and they were very impressed. I must say, I enjoyed every minute of being with the children, and still hope to continue on with them for the veterans' children. The children in the schools; I know they enjoy it very much.
