Halifax Riots at the end of the War

Heroes Remember

Halifax Riots at the end of the War

Transcript

Well it was very frightening to start with because there had been a big parade and we had all ended up downtown and my friends and I had gone to, well I don't know, I think it was a Y and had a cup of tea, and then when we come out to go back to barracks, I mean, the whole city was insane. They were smashing things, and people were sick all over the, it was terrible, it was frightening. And of course the only way, we had to walk all the way back to barracks and there were police cars going, you know, yelling to get back and all that sort of thing. And then of course when we got back, we were confined to barracks. Well, the cause in Halifax was a lot of resentment toward Halifax itself and the fact that after this parade, and everybody is downtown, there was nowhere to go and nothing to do. Everything was shut, shut up and so somebody started it by breaking into a liquor store and it just escalated from that. But I have to say that the looting was not done by service people and it was proven that later. Trucks were coming to take things away, I mean, and where was a sailor going to take a chesterfield for heaven's sakes. And so, it was not done by the service people.

Description

Mrs. Greer witnessed the Halifax Riots at the end of the Second World War. She believes one of the cause of the riots was resentment toward Halifax itself. She recalls that the looting which occurred was not done by the service people.

Rosemond Mildred Greer

Rosemond Mildred Greer was born in Vancouver, British Columbia on December 6, 1924. She was an only child. She became a Naval Secretary and was stationed in Statacona, in Halifax during the war. She also witnessed the Halifax Riots at the end of the War.

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