![]() ![]() She recalls having to walk 20 minutes to work across Hyde Park and constantly seeing those flying bombs dropping from the sky, killing civilians and flattening much of the city. "It had a long flame coming out of the tail and they made a dreadful, horrible noise."īell worked for the records department, keeping track of everything the air force did. "They were shaped like a small airplane," said Bell. She vividly remembers the first strikes using from the Nazis' new terror weapon in 1944 – a flying bomb known to civilians as a "buzz bomb" or "doodlebug." That put her at ground zero for the Blitz, Nazi Germany's intense bombing campaign against the United Kingdom.īetty Bell, 98, served in the records department of the Royal Canadian Air Force women's division in London from 1943 to 1946. She enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force's new women's division.īorn in Calgary, Bell was stationed at the headquarters in London because she was living with her parents in the U.K. Betty Bellīetty Bell joined the military the same year as Lane. Those decoded alerts helped Canada track and chart the movement of its warships. Lane said she received naval messages from Canadian ships on what was called "the run" from Halifax to Newfoundland to the United Kingdom. One mistake could have sent an entire Canadian convoy to the wrong place. Sworn to secrecy, Lane said she was taught to keep what she learned quiet and to not slip up. "I was right there where things were going on," she said.īased in Halifax at the navy's headquarters, her job was to decode messages from ships in the North Atlantic. Lucille Lane joined the Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service in 1943 and worked in the signals branch, decoding naval messages from ships in the north Atlantic. The three veterans were among the women who joined newly created women's divisions in the navy, army and air force when it was all-hands-on-deck to fight Nazi Germany. "I think we should be recognized," said 98-year-old veteran Betty Bell in her first TV interview. When he first started his project, he said, some women refused to do interviews because they didn't feel their non-combat roles were worthy of preservation.īrunt said that belief is now fading and more women are feeling empowered to speak up about what they did to help win the war. He said he has now documented the wartime experiences of more than 70 Canadian women.ĬBC News spoke to three female veterans who waited a lifetime to share their stories with Canadians. For many of them, it's their first time in the spotlight as much of the previous attention went to the men.īrunt's been racing around the country to interview as many veterans as possible before it's too late. Duration 2:36 Featured VideoA documentary filmmaker is recording the stories of women veterans of the Second World War.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |