Quesnel, British Columbia
Mrs. Robertson is a Veteran of Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps. She graduated with the prestigious Nurse of the Year award from the British Armed Forces in 1966. Mrs. Robertson immigrated to Canada with her husband and first-born daughter in 1974 and, while researching for her master’s degree, she wrote an article for the Vancouver Sun titled “The Men of the Punjab.” She was honoured by being the first woman and non-Sikh to be granted membership to the Indian Ex-Servicemen’s Society of British Columbia. Since obtaining membership, she has been given the Sikh name “Kaur” and was presented with a bracelet called the “kara.” Mrs. Robertson continues to research and write articles highlighting her own service experiences and those of other Second World War Veterans. Students soon became interested in participating in her research and wanted to hear her stories and teachings on Canada’s role in the Second World War. Mrs. Robertson is very involved in educating today’s youth. As a member of Branch 94 of The Royal Canadian Legion in Quesnel, she visits schools on Remembrance Day to give presentations. Mrs. Robertson also co-owns a website for Veterans of the Armed Forces and, through it, she initiated a fund-raising campaign in order to send a Veteran to the Normandy beaches. In 2010, Mrs. Robertson was invited by the Normandy Veteran’s Association to attend the ceremony commemorating the 65th anniversary of the Liberation of Holland and while there, she recorded a DVD which features the graves of the six men from Quesnel who were killed and buried in Holland during the Second World War.