Bruce County Memories
Submitted by Robin Hilborn,
Bruce County Historical Society
Few realize that Bruce County women served in key roles during wartime.
Take for example Helen Margaret Root, born in Saugeen First Nation in 1920. Her father Joseph had served in World War I and in 1941 she enlisted in the Canadian Women’s Army Corps. Sent to England, she served as a signaller relaying coded messages.
She was known for her smile and family lore is that, since women had to be five feet to enlist, the only reason Helen was accepted was “because she charmed the enlisting officer with her smile”. She worked in a building in Trafalgar Square, which was bombed regularly. After the war, she married and raised a family, returning to Saugeen First Nation where she stayed in the Elder Lodge. She died in March 2019 at the age of 98. She remained extremely patriotic her entire life and maintained her military friendships.
For uncovering Helen Root’s story we can thank local historian Bill Streeter. As a longtime member of the Municipal Heritage Committee of Saugeen Shores he decided to search for the history of local women who served in wartime.
His interest was piqued by the names he ran across in the book “Roots and Branches of Saugeen, 1854–1984”. He dug into the archives at the Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre, the Port Elgin Legion and the Southampton Legion, and contacted the descendants of the women.
By the end of his search, Bill had identified 17 women who served from Saugeen Shores and area—two in WWI and 15 in WWII. Besides Helen Root there were sisters Vivian and Kathleen Sees (Port Elgin), Elaine Matheson (Southampton), Vera Eidt (Port Elgin), Dorothy May Longe (of the Longe Métis in Southampton), Doreen Sampson (Southampton), Mable Stowe and Felicia Colbean (Saugeen Township), and eight others.
Bill’s “Ladies in Uniform” had many captivating stories to tell of their service in trades like nursing, radar operator, ambulance driver, cook, clerk, telephone operator, messenger, quartermaster, truck driver and mechanic.
Bill Streeter worked on an interpretive plaque to commemorate these Bruce County women. The Heritage Committee unveiled his “Ladies in Uniform” plaque on September 4, 2021 at the Saugeen Shores Administration Building. The women of World War I and World War II are pictured in uniform along with their histories.
Two years later, on September 6, 2023, special guests took part in a plaque-viewing ceremony. Mayor Luke Charbonneau addressed an audience of about 100 people which included descendants of the featured women and members of the Southampton Legion and Port Elgin Legion. Surprisingly, one of the guests that day was also pictured on the plaque.
That was Vivian Winifred Sees, age 100. She and her daughter Roxanne Barrett and grandson Chris made the trip from London, Ont. Vivian was born in Port Elgin in 1923 and enlisted in 1943 in the Royal Canadian Air Force. She was assigned to a radar station in Victoria, one of 11 which monitored west coast air traffic. There they plotted aircraft movements on a large tabletop map. The work was highly secret and Vivian was still reticent to talk about it.
Another of the Ladies in Uniform is Elaine Matheson, who enlisted in 1941 as a nurse in the RCAF and trained in St. Thomas, Brantford and Picton before going overseas to join a bomber squadron for a year before being posted to the Canadian wing of the Queen Victoria Hospital. It was in this hospital that the Canadian Air Force opened a special burn unit to work with injured pilots. Rita Donovan told the story in her book As for the Canadians: The Remarkable Story of the RCAF’s “Guinea Pigs” of World War II (2000). After the war, Elaine started work at the new Southampton Hospital in 1947 and then at Women’s College Hospital in Toronto. She returned home to her local hospital and rose to be Director of Nursing until retiring in 1977. She died in 1999.
Vera Eidt was born in Port Elgin in 1901 and chose a career in nursing that took her to Cleveland, Ohio and then to Nelson, B.C. where she was Director of Nursing. In 1942 she joined the Canadian Army Medical Corps with the rank of Lieutenant. She served as a nursing administrator in Canada, France, Germany and the Mediterranean aboard the hospital ship Letitia. Her family has submitted much information about her to the Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre, including letters to the Ministry of Defence. In 1960, she was made a Fellow of the American Hospital College of Hospital Administrators. She retired in 1968, died that year and is buried in Port Elgin cemetery.
In 1922 Dorothy May Longe was born into the large Longe Métis family of Southampton. She enlisted in the Canadian Women’s Army Corps and rose to the rank of Regimental Sgt. Major, serving in England, France, Belgium and Holland. She was part of the group of women who, in 1946, arranged for the return home of Canadian soldiers. She married Bertram C. Smith and lived on the Smith farm until 1956 when they moved to Southampton. After her husband’s death, she moved to Port Elgin and died in 1991, aged 69.
