Halifax VE-Day Riots

Heroes Remember

Halifax VE-Day Riots

Transcript

They stole, they broke the windows, they stole, the navy got the blame of it and for a while after the war or after everything was over we weren't allowed into the rest, some of the restaurants. They barred the navy personnel from the restaurants. They wouldn't let us in and we took the blame as much as, as the men did because they thought well we were in uniform we gotta, you know, cover with them so. But it, it was, it was real scary. Real, real scary. I wouldn't want to face it again, I'm telling you. It was unbelievable and people going, they had clothes over their arms; jackets, dresses, you name it. They just went in and cleared the racks off whether they fit them or not, they took, God knows what they ever done with them. But I was glad to get back to barracks. Well, then when we got back we had to go in from our Gottingen Street barracks entrance and there was a little WREN there, she was only, maybe 19, maybe 20, I don't know and she had a flag draped around her. I'll never forget it because she only had part of her uniform on and she had a Union Jack draped around her. She got a dishonourable discharge because of it but I still feel that she had been drinking because she was in our barracks and when they came in to investigate and search they found liquor, she had liquor in her purse and everything. And our purses were no bigger than what they were but that one is, they were about the same size and how she ever got liquor into it, I don't know but she had it. But she got a dishonourable discharge because of it. But, I don't know, it was a shame because they kind of picked on the, on the females to a certain extent, you know.

Description

The looting and the rioting in Halifax was extensive. Navy personnel were blamed and barred from restaurants and other establishments.

Katherine Stevens

Katherine Stevens was born on March 17, 1924. She grew up during the depression years in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She decided to join the navy in 1942 and worked as a wardroom assistant with the WRENs. She served mostly in Esquimalt, British Columbia and when the war ended in 1945, she returned to Halifax.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 01:57
Person Interviewed:: Katherine Stevens
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Home front
Branch:: Navy
Rank:: Wren - Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS)
Occupation:: Wardroom Assistant (WRA)

Language selection

Halifax VE-Day Riots

Heroes Remember