Rio Logie

This story is from Rio Logie of the Ontario Region. She tells a story about her mother during the war.

"My late mother was a "Wren", that is, in the Women's Royal Navy in Britain. She worked in Birmingham, England, in the Code & Cipher division. This work involved creating codes for the British military to use in sending coded radio messages between units, and also involved breaking the code of enemy transmissions. She remembered the tremendous elation and cheering that went on when somebody broke a code.

She also remembered how it was hard to get personal grooming products, especially stockings. People wore torn stockings if necessary, or if they only had one, they put make-up on the other leg.

I asked her if it wasn't a frightening or worrisome time. "Oh no, you never thought you'd be the one [to die]", she said. According to her, "It was all great fun!"