Thirza Blackmore's Quest To Serve

NOTE TO EDITORS: Following is a feature in honour of Remembrance Day prepared by the Advisory Council on the Status of Women.

We often hear around Remembrance Day, of the many young men who lied about their age to serve Canada at war. Thirza Blackmore of Westville, Pictou Co., has just such a story to tell. The difference is, it's her story, not her brother's.

A willing worker with a desire for adventure and to serve her country, Thirza was exactly the right sort of woman for military service.

After graduating from high school in Westville in 1941, Thirza worked as an acetylene burner at the Pictou Shipyards. While others enjoyed welding, she used her steady hand to remove and reset rivets that were inserted incorrectly, making ships stronger and safer. She enjoyed the work, particularly the night shift.

"It was quieter and easier to get on with the job," she says.

But it may have been too quiet.

Her father was overseas and her older brother was a merchant marine when Thirza set off alone for Halifax in 1942 to try to enlist.

In the recruiting office, she met a woman from Halifax who was also too young to serve.

They sat waiting to be interviewed by a recruiting officer, their eyes focused on a stack of birth certificates, including their own, on the desk. When the recruiter left the room for a moment, the young woman from Halifax removed the two birth certificates.

The women sat through the interviews with their birth certificates in their pockets. No one ever noticed and both women became members of the Canadian Women's Army Corps (CWAC).

After signing up in Halifax, Thirza boarded a train with the other recruits and headed for basic training in Kingston, Ont. During the Second World War, more than 45,000 Canadian women took up military service in fields other than nursing.

Posted first to Sydney, Thirza worked in general operations, one of many people seated around a huge circular table wearing earphones to track ships and planes. She was barely 18, and plotting the movements of vessels of war on a map. Thirza and other CWACs also had opportunities to learn to drive everything from jeeps to large trucks so they could provide transportation when male drivers were not available.

Thirza was eventually transferred to Halifax where she worked in an operations room buried under Citadel Hill. She remembers the huge table, the others at the table, the huge map and the officers working on a mezzanine above. She said that on one occasion, no one was allowed off duty for three days while an unidentified ship lurked in the harbour.

The women of the Canadian Women's Army Corps lived in barracks within the Citadel. Thirza says it was very dark at night and walking across the parade grounds was impossible. People had to feel their way along the walls to get where they were going.

But there were good times along with the work. When Canadian ships came into port there were dances, although liquor was not generally permitted in the CWACs' canteens. There were interesting people to meet, and some developed life-long friendships.

When the war was over, Thirza returned to her home in Westville and attended business college, studying accounting. She married a former paratrooper and had two children. She worked as an accountant for various businesses in the New Glasgow area until she retired.

Thirza Blackmore has never regretted her time in the service.

"It was an exciting time for a young woman," she says. "I met many interesting people, did interesting things and learned many new skills."

When Canadians think of veterans, we most often imagine the men in the trenches. But women have played an essential role in all the armed conflicts in which Canada has taken part, serving as nurses, stenographers, camp cooks, drivers, mechanics and pilots. Women also served at home, keeping farms, families, businesses, and factories running.

This is the Year of the Veteran in Canada, commemorating the end of the Second World War and acknowledging the contribution and sacrifices of the thousands of people who defended democracy 60 years ago.

The Advisory Council on the Status of Women honours and thanks women for their contributions in times of war and of peace.