Red Cross pays tribute to Canadian women who served overseas during WWII
(Ottawa, May 6, 2005) – In honour of the women who served overseas as part of the Red Cross Corps, the Canadian Red Cross today launched a book titled Wartime Letters Home by Lois MacDonald Cooper and unveiled a series of four commemorative posters: Women of the Red Cross.
“We will be forever grateful for the enormous contribution of the Canadian Red Cross Corps who courageously served our country overseas more than 60 years ago,” says Dr. Pierre Duplessis, Secretary General and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Red Cross. “Their service to humanity is a proud part of our history. Wartime Letters Home and the Women of the Red Cross commemorative poster series will help keep this history alive for generations to come.”
Mrs. Cooper’s Wartime Letters Home provides the unique perspective of a young woman posted to England with Canadian Red Cross Corps in 1943. Her impressions of tumultuous events unfolding around her are captured in the letters she wrote to her parents. Often the Red Cross women were only a few miles behind the front lines. The letters resonate with anticipation as she and her colleagues await the invasion of Europe and with sorrow as Canadian casualties mount in the battle for North-West Europe.
The Women of the Red Cross poster series is based upon original artwork done during the war which recognized the four branches of the Red Cross Corps: transport, nursing auxiliary, office administration and food administration.
During World War II and after, of the 15,000 female volunteers with the Canadian Red Cross Corps, 641 served overseas in Africa and Europe. They drove ambulances—often in blackouts, supported patients and assisted staff in military hospitals. In London, they staffed four “Maple Leaf” hostels and two canteens as well as assisting civilians in England. A number of volunteers served as welfare officers with military hospitals in the United Kingdom, Italy, northern Europe and parts of Africa. Other activities included helping with the rehabilitation of the war-blinded and coordinating the distribution of Red Cross parcels to prisoners of war.
The Canadian Red Cross wishes to thank the following companies and organizations for their generous support of Wartime Letters Home and the Women of the Red Cross commemorative poster series: General Dynamics Canada, Sikorsky Aircraft, Veterans Affairs Canada, St. Joseph Print Communications, Canadian Defence & Foreign Affairs Institute, Boeing, Raytheon Canada, Ottawa Citizen and Borealis Book Publishers.
-30-
For further information or to arrange an interview, please contact:
Suzanne Charest
Media Relations Manager
Canadian Red Cross
Tel.: (613) 740-1928
Cel: (613) 222-6196
|
