Nestled on the British Columbia coast, the community of Powell River sent several Canadian men and women overseas to fight in the World War II. When all was said and done, more than forty war bride families made their home in Powell River and the nearby town of Stillwater. War Brides and Rosies compiles these families' amazing stories and artfully captures the history of Powell River and Stillwater, British Columbia, during World War II. Barbara Ann Lambert recounts how the Powell River Company became a major player in war production as local girls became Rosies of the north, assembling planes for Boeing of Canada as well as running the largest pulp and paper mill in western Canada. Through their monthly newsletter, the company also became a social network. It included correspondence from Powell River's service men and women stationed around the world and news on overseas marriages. Using this resource, as well as accounts from war brides and their families, Lambert shows how these women influenced the communities and helped change the perspective of women's roles in Canadian society. Full of vivid detail, War Brides and Rosies is an important contribution to the local history of these Canadian communities. War Brides & Rosies Powell River and Stillwater, B.C. By Barbara Ann Lambert Trafford Publishing Copyright © 2012 Barbara Ann Lambert All right reserved. ISBN: 978-1-4669-5187-7 Contents Chapter 1 For King & Country – Two World Wars...........................................11Chapter 2 The Powell River Company 1910 – 1959: A Patriotic Company.....................27Chapter 3 WWII Powell River & District Women in Uniform.......................................55Chapter 4 Women on the Home Front.............................................................84Chapter 5 For Love and War – Service Marriages 1939-45..................................98Chapter 6 WWII Child Evacuees.................................................................217Chapter 7 Stillwater, B.C. – a vibrant logging community 1890-1950s.....................245Chapter 8 WWI War Brides in Western Canada....................................................279Chapter 9 Memories............................................................................305Author Information............................................................................312Bibliography..................................................................................315WWII Service List 1939-1945...................................................................317Powell River & District Roll of Honour 1914-1918, 1939-1945...................................324Glossary......................................................................................325Index.........................................................................................327 Chapter One For King and Country – Two World Wars Two World Wars The Great War (WWI) 1914-18 The Great War (1914-18) was the largest war known to date, in the history of the world. With the advent of WWII, it became known as WWI. The assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand on the 28th June 1914 led to a series of events which sparked the start of the war between Germany, the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, and Turkey, known as the Central Powers , and the Allies – France, Russia, and Great Britain and Empire (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa and the West Indies). Japan initially sided with the Central Powers but in May 1915, joined the Allies. In 1914 Italy was a nominal member of the Central Powers, however she had made a secret treaty with France to stay neutral if France was invaded by Germany; on May 23, 1915 Italy joined the Allies. The United States of America joined the Allies on April 6, 1917; the U.S.A. looked upon Germany as a threat to democracy. A major war of attrition was fought on the Western Front in France and Belgium. The war was fought on three levels: the air, with the technologies of flight and photography, resulting, for the first time, in aerial surveillance mapping; the ground, bloody trench warfare fought from fixed dug-in positions, filled with mud and water; and a secret underground war of dug-out passages under the Western Front. An underground army of Royal engineers and miners used the old technology of mining below enemy positions, setting explosives and blowing up selected targets. Thousands of miners lived deep underground, under the Western Front, for many months while digging tunnels. They lived in underground villages with their own sleeping and eating quarters, and received mail deliveries. Their greatest achievement was digging 30 metre tunnels under the Messines Ridge, a task which took over a year. They produced 20+ simultaneous explosions on 7th June 1917, which killed hundreds of Germans, and allowed the Allies to make a major breakthrough and secure the high ground of the Ridge. The Great War ended on the 1