Overseas on the SS Covina

Heroes Remember

Overseas on the SS Covina

Transcript

One night after pay parade there was an officer came from Calgary and she was talking about girls going overseas and one of the girls had something wrong with her pay and she asked me if I would go up to the admin with her. By the time we got back down to the barrack block, there was only one girl in the barrack block and she said, “Well everybody is over in the canteen there talking about going overseas.” So I went over and both Margaret and I put our names down and I was the last name on the list. I was the last one interviewed the day before, the next day, and there was one girl, her name was in about the middle of the list and myself, we were the only two out of three hundred girls that left Lethbridge in our trades. I went overseas in the second largest convoy that went over, on the SS Covina. There were 75 officers counting the women officers and 75 girls. And we had a good trip until we got off the coast of Ireland and then we had two alarms in one night. And the whole convoy scattered. Some went north, some went south, some went back towards Canada even. It took two days to get back into line again and then we ended up in Liverpool. And they took us down from Liverpool to London on the train, and they put us up in an old venereal disease hospital, the part of it that wasn’t bombed and that’s until we got posted out.

Description

Mrs. Stadnyk speaks about her opportunity to go overseas and the voyage across on the SS Covina.

Beatrice Stadnyk

Mrs. Beatrice Stadnyk was born April 2, 1920 in Cranbrook, British Columbia. After attending the school system and looking for adventure, Beatrice travelled to Toronto, Ontario. On April 2, 1942 “on a dare” she joined the air force. Her mother was very disappointed with her choice as she would have been happier if Beatrice had joined the army following in the family footsteps. With family in London, England, Beatrice travelled overseas and took up the occupation of Cook on part of the Women’s Division, Royal Canadian Air Force. Beatrice spent 33 months in England and was discharged in December 1945 when she returned to Canada to look for employment. Mrs. Stadnyk returned to British Columbia and raised a family.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 2:16
Person Interviewed:: Beatrice Stadnyk
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Branch:: Air Force
Units/Ship:: Royal Canadian Air Force Women's Division

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Overseas on the SS Covina

Heroes Remember