TRANSCRIPT

Yvonne Cory remembers joining the workforce and working in the industry during the Second World War; Yvonne worked at General Motors, Pedlars People, and Coulters. Click the link to hear her story regarding industry, the Red Cross, and family life on the homefront.

I worked in [the] final assembly in the GM, during the war I worked there. I was on the Mosquito bombers I used to paint over the holes that the riveters, my sister was a riveter, and my mother-in-law was a riveter, out on the sloy, and they drilled holes like into the plane[s], in the mosquito bomber; and I had to cover over them. Somebody covered over them with yellow paint and I had to go over them with green paint, or what they did, like I used to, just go over the yellow. And I remember, I didn't see it but I remember them cheering when the first mosquito bomber went down Marry Street. You know it was on Cole streets I guess, that was the first one that was made; the first mosquito bomber that was made in the GM. They call them mosquito bombers because they can go around anything easy, you know. They were a small plane[s], they were very small, like a mosquito. I worked at Pedlars then. I was reaming shells that they used, shells just the empty shells, no explosives in them, just the empty shell, you had to ream them with the reamer we had, I worked there a long time, made more money there. I worked at Coulters for a year, exactly a year the day I quit; in the manufacturing. We made locks for cars, door locks. Some girls worked in the presses, I didn't, they wouldn't let me work in the presses, because they lost fingers, they had guards they were as soon as you tripped, [it would] push the trip light on the press. They were iron presses, iron black iron, and sometimes it pulled their arms back, the guards, leather guards.

Did you remember rations? Or help out with the Red Cross?

Rationing butter was rationed and meat, and sugar. I just gave my blood, three pints of blood I gave, my sister gave one, and they told her not to come back again because she nearly passed out. I gave three [pints of blood] and I got a badge. The Red Cross made those soldiers and sailors pay for; socks and anything, toques; anything they wanted to wear, like you know. I was married in [19]46, just after the war was over in [19]45. My husband had to wear them, up north. He was at Russia. During the war in the navy, it was very cold.

My brother was a prisoner of war of the Germans for two and a half years. God that was awful, nice when he could get back home. We heard from a British army in the hospital, where he was in England. The British army wrote the first letter that my mother got, it was written by him, and I said to my mother when she got me to read it. I said, "This isn't Nelson's writing you know, Nelson didn't write this letter." she said "keep reading," and on when you read on the British Army was writing that letter for him because he was wounded. He wasn't killed he was wounded though, bad, in his arm, his muscles [were] all gone in one arm. He had shrapnel in his wrist; he told me that he still has shrapnel in his wrist. You know what shrapnel is? I think it's what's left of the bullets.

I remember my sister saying, "Come on, we're going to go to the show" that night after "no I can't I could never go to a show" I just stayed at home. We couldn't go to the show after hearing that awful news. My mother got a telegram saying that he got killed in action, he thinks that happened from someone stealing his, dog-tag, that they wore around their necks, they call them dog-tags, with their name on there and regimental number and Nelson thinks that somebody stole his and is buried in his name. Because it wasn't Nelson, so it must have been another solider buried in his name. He said the Germans liked him, they liked him, the guard you know in the prisoner of war camp, starlight something, they were all called starlight. Nelson said he slept in a barn, they let him sleep in the barn, I don't know why but not as bad as the ones in Japan, they suffered awful. They starved them, they did they really starved them; they didn't treat them good at all, the Japanese. But the Germans really liked Nelson and Nelson got along good with them, he used to go out in the night and steal a chicken or a pig bring it back and cook it, and do them where he slept in the barn, he'd cook it somehow, I don't know how he cooks it in there, but they, that's what they, how come they treated him so good.