Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Uncovering stories of women in war

Pique seeks stories of womens' wartime contributions ahead of Remembrance Day
news_seatosky3-1
WAR STORIES Organizer Brian Buchholz is hoping to commemorate womens' contributions to the wartime effort during Whistler's Remembrance Day Ceremony this year. The stories will also be featured in the Nov. 6 issue of Pique. An aerial shot of last year's ceremony is seen above. Photo by David Buzzard / www.media-centre.ca

In a Canadian Women's Army Corps recruiting poster dating to 1939, women were encouraged to do their part and march "shoulder to shoulder with Canada's Active Army down the road that leads to victory."

But there were innumerable ways that Canadian women contributed to the war effort — whether it was at the front lines or back home — and that has been the case from the Canadian nurses who served with distinction in the Second Boer War, to the women who fabricated Victory ships in Vancouver, or the code-breakers working around the clock at "Camp X" in World War Two, up to today, when female soldiers bear the same risk on the battlefield as their male counterparts.

It's these stories that Pique and the organizer of Whistler's Remembrance Day Ceremony, Brian Buchholz, want to uncover and share this November.

"For this year's Remembrance Day program, the Whistler Remembrance Day Committee is asking community members for their reminiscences, recounting their female family member's contributions during war, in peace-keeping and in remembrance," Buchholz wrote in an email.

"If you have or had a female family member in uniform in war, in wartime manufacturing, in intelligence, or in any other aspect, we invite you to share their story."

The submissions will be commemorated in Pique's Nov. 6 issue, and may be featured as part of the Remembrance Day Ceremony taking place in the village on Nov. 11.

Buchholz acknowledged some veterans' and their families' hesitancy to share their personal memories, but with this November marking the centenary of World War One, he feels it's as important as ever to commemorate these stories of honour and commitment, and assured that the ceremony will not celebrate the realities of war, but rather the immense sacrifice Canadians have made through the years.

"We are looking for vignettes that tell the personal side of those efforts; where they lived, what they did before the war, how they came to be involved, how they contributed, and finally — how they might say their war contributions changed their lives," he said.

Buchholz encouraged anyone with questions to contact him at 604-938-1709 or bucks10@telus.net.

Story and photo submissions for Pique's Remembrance Day issue can be emailed to edit@piquenewsmagazine.com and must be received by Oct. 23.

Whistler's Remembrance Day Ceremony will take place Nov. 11 at 10:30 a.m. at the Whistler Cenotaph on Village Gate Boulevard.