Second World War
The Navy Ashore  - Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service

The Second World War saw close to 7,000 women in naval service. Founded in 1942, the Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service (WRCNS), often called the "Wrens", performed a wide variety non-combatant roles ashore, both in Canada and abroad.

Training Certificate, Evangeline Harrold

This document certifies that Evangeline Harrold had completed her training as a plotter, and was now qualified to track the locations of Allied and enemy units.

Subsequently posted to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Harrold worked in a plotting room, helping to track the locations of Allied units and German U-Boats (submarines). At a time when many Canadians' schooling finished in their early teens, plotters had to have a secondary school education and also had to be "steady and not easily flustered". Wrens demonstrated their aptitude for such tasks and, by war's end, were responsible for the majority of these duties.

George Metcalf Archival Collection
CWM 20080094-010