​Once Upon a Time: When Bruce County women went to war

Few realize that Bruce County women served in key roles during wartime.

Take, for example, Helen Margaret Root (right), born in Saugeen First Nation in1920. Her father, Joseph, had served in the First World War and in 1941, she enlisted in the Canadian Women’s Army Corps. Sent to England, she served as a signaller, relaying coded messages.

She was known for her smile, and family lore is that, since women had to be five feet to enlist, the only reason Helen was accepted was “because she charmed the enlisting officer with her smile.” She worked in a building in Trafalgar Square, which was bombed regularly.

After the war, she married and raised a family, returning to Saugeen First Nation where she stayed in the Elder Lodge. She died in March, 2019, at the age of 98. She remained extremely patriotic her entire life and maintained her military friendships.

For uncovering Helen Root’s story, we can thank local historian Bill Streeter. As a long-time member of the Municipal Heritage Committee of Saugeen Shores, he decided to search for the history of local women who served in wartime.

His interest was piqued by the names he ran across in the book, “Roots and Branches of Saugeen, 1854–1984.” He dug into the archives at the Bruce County Museum and Cultural Centre, the Port Elgin Legion and the Southampton Legion, and contacted the descendants of the women.

By the end of his search, Streeter had identified 17 women who served from Saugeen Shores and area — two in the First World War and 15 in the Second World War. Besides Helen Root, there were sisters Vivian and Kathleen Sees (Port Elgin), Elaine Matheson (Southampton), Vera Eidt (Port Elgin), Dorothy May Longe (of the Longe Métis in Southampton), Doreen Sampson (Southampton), Mable Stowe and Felicia Colbean (Saugeen Township), and eight others.

Streeter’s “Ladies in Uniform” had many captivating stories to tell of their service in such trades as nursing, radar operator, ambulance driver, cook, clerk, telephone operator, messenger, quartermaster, truck driver and mechanic.

He worked on an interpretive plaque to commemorate these Bruce County women. The heritage committee unveiled his “Ladies in Uniform” plaque, Sept. 4, 2021, at the Saugeen Shores Administration Building. The women of the First and Second World Wars are pictured in uniform along with their histories.

Two years later, Sept. 6, 2023, special guests took part in a plaque-viewing ceremony. Saugeen Shores mayor Luke Charbonneau addressed an audience of about 100 people which included descendants of the featured women and members of the Southampton and Port Elgin Legions. Surprisingly, one of the guests that day was also pictured on the plaque.

That was Vivian Winifred Sees (right), age 100. She and her daughter, Roxanne Barrett, and grandson, Chris, made the trip from London, Ontario. Vivian was born in Port Elgin in 1923 and enlisted in 1943 in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF).

She was assigned to a radar station in Victoria, one of 11 which monitored west coast air traffic. There, they plotted aircraft movements on a large tabletop map. The work was highly secret and Vivian was still reticent to talk about it.



 


Vera Eidt (right) was born in Port Elgin in 1901 and chose a career in nursing that took her to Cleveland, Ohio, and then to Nelson, British Columbia, where she was director of nursing.

In 1942 she joined the Canadian Army Medical Corps with the rank of lieutenant. She served as a nursing administrator in Canada, France, Germany and the Mediterranean aboard the hospital ship “Letitia.”

Her family has submitted much information about her to the Bruce County Museum and Cultural Centre, including letters to the ministry of defence. In 1960, she was made a Fellow of the American Hospital College of Hospital Administrators. She retired in 1968, died that year and is buried in Port Elgin Cemetery.

In 1922, Dorothy May Longe (below) was born into the large Longe Métis family of Southampton. She enlisted in the Canadian Women’s Army Corps and rose to the rank of regimental sergeant major, serving in England, France, Belgium and Holland.