Canadians in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
• Hong Kong was a British colony until 1997• Canada sent 1975 men to Hong Kong in
1940• First time Canadians combat in WW2,
before Dieppe.• 557 were killed or died in prison camps.
Canadian Women during WWII
The Home Front
• Just like in WWI • Over 1 million Canadian women went to
work• Canada’s population was 11 million • Over 25,000 women worked in Canadian
wartime aircraft production.
Rosies of the North - Documentary
• One Example is a factory in Thunder Bay, Ontario where about 3,000 women went to work during the war building planes.
• These women came from all across Canada and would live in dorms built to house the workers.
• Some of these women were only 15.
After the War
• Out of the thousands of women working at the factory in Thunder Bay only three were kept on as employees after the war.
• An obstacle to enlistment from 1939 until 1943 was the regulation which prohibited marriage during any woman's military service
• Women were not allowed be in combat.
Nurses in the War
• Number of women in the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps that served in the war- • 3,656
• 300 women resigned from the war because of marriage.
• Nurses in the war were called Nursing Sisters
• Total 4,480
Canadian Women’s Army Corps• (C.W.A.C.) was created in 1941 it was the
result of two factors: the realization that the Army would sooner or later need more workers; and the pressure exerted on the federal government by Canadian women, who were eager to join the Armed Forces.
Women in the Army
• The Canadian Women's Army Corps (CWACS) had 21,600 members during the six-years of the war. 25 died.
• The Women's Division, Royal Canadian Air Force (WDs) had 17,400 members.
• The Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service (Wrens) had 7,100 members.
Navy • The last part of the army to accept women was the
Navy according to a former recruiting officer they would ask women:
• What schools they had attended• How many cars their father had
• They also looked at:• How shinny your hair was• Bright Eyes• Good finger nails
Remember it was a different time!
What happened to the C.W.A.C.
• Was dissolved into the Military in 1964.
