MEDIA ADVISORY


Canadian Federation of University Women, Kitchener - Waterloo
P.O. Box 22039, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 6J7

May 28, 2007

Media Advisory

The CANADIAN FEDERATION of UNIVERSITY WOMEN, KITCHENER-WATERLOO

WHO  - WW II veterans including members of the Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service and Canadian Women’s Army Corps, as well as other naval personnel, will be joined by Gary Goodyear, MP Cambridge, and their hosts, members of the Canadian Federation of University Women, Kitchener-Waterloo

WHAT  - launch Proudly She Marched: Training Canada’s World War II Women in Waterloo County, Volume 2 – Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service (part of CFUW, KW’s major project: a DVD and two volumes of books entitled Proudly She Marched: Training Canada’s World War II Women in Waterloo County. Volume 1 and the DVD were launched in October of 2006.) Virtually all the members of the Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service (the Wrens) who served Canada during the Second World War received basic training in Galt (Cambridge). Volume 2 tells their story.

This project is the culmination of 3 years’ work by researchers and writers Ruth Russell and Anne Kallin, and by many other members of the CFUW, K-W club. Archival material and personal interviews of over 200 surviving veterans across Canada created the foundation for the work. An impressive collection of photographs illustrates the lively, personal, and readable histories of these spirited women who trained in Waterloo County.

This project was the result of CFUW, K-W’s belief, and the belief of the donors to this project, that this unwritten chapter of our local - and of Canada’s - history deserved to be told. Both the DVD and books paint compelling pictures of young Canadian women determined to do their “bit” for the war effort quite unaware that, by entering a male bastion, they were trailblazers for generations to come.

WHERE University of Waterloo School of Architecture
(across the street from the historic Jenny Wren statue)
7 Melville St. St., Cambridge

WHEN June 10, 2007 2 – 4 p.m
Video viewing and remarks at 2:30 pm

There will be an opportunity to photograph some of the veterans with the author.

For more information please contact
Anne Kallin (519) 746-0648 fkallin@golden.net

Original Releases...

UNIVERSITY WOMEN’S CLUB BEGINNING NEW LOCAL HISTORY PROJECT

During the Second World War, the basic training for the Canadian Wrens was conducted at the HMCS Conestoga in nearby Galt, Ontario, which is now Cambridge. We would like to tell the story of this important chapter in Canadian history and in the lives of women mid-20th century -- a story which has not yet been adequately related. We are also including with this project the story of the women who trained at the local training facility for the Canadian Women's Army Corps (CWAC) which was located in Kitchener, Ontario, and where the CWACs received their training -- again, a story which has largely been overlooked in local history books and in the school curriculum.

As a millenium project, our CFUW club produced a book entitled the Women of Waterloo County, a wonderful book which was well-received by the community. We were asked many times about a sequel to this book, and we have now decided that the story of the women who trained at these Second World War training sites should be told. Our hope is to produce a book, video and website, and to involve as many areas of the community as possible in producing this book, and in telling the story of these women once the book has been written.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Release

September 23, 2003

UNIVERSITY WOMEN’S CLUB BEGINNING NEW LOCAL HISTORY PROJECT

Are you a woman who served with the Canadian military during World War II?  If you are, the Kitchener-Waterloo branch of the Canadian Federation of University Women wants to hear from you!

Following their successful publication of WOMEN OF WATERLOO COUNTY almost three years ago, this club is beginning a new project to celebrate and honour Canada’s World War II women veterans – and at the same time to write a chapter in our area’s history.  During the war, two of the military’s training facilities for women were located in the Region of Waterloo – women of the Canadian Women’s Army Corps (CWACs) received their basic training in a camp on East Avenue in Kitchener, and those enlisted in the Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service (WRENS) trained in Galt. 

Local committees of veterans mounted a Canada-wide fundraising campaign two years ago, which resulted in a handsome statue and plaque on the Kitchener site to commemorate the women who trained there during Canada’s war years, and there is a statue of “Jenny Wren” at the Cambridge Library and Gallery.  But the experiences of the thousands of young women who began their World War II service  here have never been fully documented.  These training centers were important parts of our Region during the war years, with nearly 17,000 CWACs passing through the Kitchener site, and many thousands of WRENs at the Galt location. 

The Kitchener-Waterloo branch of the Canadian Federation of University Women wants to produce a well-illustrated book, a video, and public presentations on the remarkable stories that happened here.   If you received military training at one of these sites yourself, or if you know someone who did -- or if, as a member of the community, you had some contact with these young recruits --  please contact a club representative by telephone at (519) 740-5249 (leave a message, and your call will be returned)  or by mail at the following address:  Military History Project, c/o CFUW Kitchener-Waterloo, P. O. Box 22039, Waterloo N2L 6J7.