Canadian Womens Army Corp (CWAC)

Hello,

I am looking for more information on why my Great Grandmother was in CWAC.

1. My Great Grandmother was born and raised in the UK. That is the main reason I am wondering why she would have joined in the CWAC. I have a picture of her in her uniform and have compared them to the British ATS. I do not have the original of the photo. Another family member does and I assume that the back says that she was in the CWAC. She would have been 18 to 19 when the picture was taken.

I guess my main question is... Would it be rare for a woman in Britain to join CWAC or was it rather common?


Thank You,

Cory Schroeder

 

You'll get better answers I think (Michelle - site name 'Macrusk' might be your best source http://www.ww2f.com/members/macrusk.html if she doesn't get on the thread soon) - but I expect your Great Grandmother was either in Canada when she joined up, or for some reason wasn't able to join the ATS that the Canadians didn't mind about. The two militaries were pretty much interchangeable during ww2, and it wasn't so rare for one or the other nationality to be in the other forces, but it was unusual to do it from the wrong side of the pond AFAIK. Don't know much about the ATS and less about the CWAC in particular, but being in Canada seems the most likely reason. I guess it's always possible that she was able to get a transfer to be near a fiancee or husband, but even that would be rare, and it would be more likely that she would just get transferred without changing cap badge.

As to your actual quest for figures or stories, I had a look and found nothing so far, except that if she was in Canada they would have had no qualms taking her if she fit the normal requirements;

Juno Beach Centre - The Canadian Women's Army Corps

 

Well, I found links on CWAC for general information, but nothing specifically about British women joining the CWAC in the UK. Amongst the duties a member of the CWAC might perform were as stenographers and drivers. My conjecturei is that perhaps British women were recruited as drivers in the UK as they would be most likely to have the knowledge necessary to get about. From the links I read there was no reference to British members of the CWAC, although there was reference to 300 British members of the Canadian Womens Auxiliary Air Force.

You might want to write to Library and Archives Canada to see if they can provide you with information on the CWAC and whether there were British members. Provide them with as much information as possible regarding your Great Grandmother in case they can find a record.

 

Thank you,

I will look into the archives of Canada.