| Mary MacDonald(Mother)- My mother had only been 16 when the war started but even then managed to do alot for the war effort.Like so many other women during that time in Canada, my mother also went to work. She was a signalwomen at the nearby train station. It was hard and labourious work, but my mother did it efficiently. It was not only important for the war effort but also to keep the family finances in check. With her brother away in the Pacific, there was not much money in the house, and so each cent counted. However, by the time the war had ended my mother had managed to look after her own mother, the house and had enough money too. It was truly remarkable. However, when the war ended in 1945, my mother decided to leave her job to allow the veterans who had fought abroad for many years to come back and make a decent living. She was ever so glad when her brother finally decided to join them in Toronto, as she had been hoping for a while. Finally in 1946 my mother got married to Larry MacDonald, who she had been seeing before he had left. The war taught my mother to be a self-independent woman and she was proud of her accomplishments and passed on these same traits to me. |