The efforts of Canadians in the Second World War were not limited to those sent into battle.
Many people also recognize the efforts of those on the home front, including those involved in building the planes and bombers to be deployed in battle.
One of those was Minnie Mackrell, a North Battleford resident now 95 years of age.
She and her husband William, who passed away in 1991, had an important role in the war effort, working at Canada Car in Fort William, Ont. (now Thunder Bay) from February 1944 until the end of the war a year and a half later.
“Canada Car” is short for Canadian Car and Foundry, Ltd., a company that was mainly involved in building railcars. But during the war, the plant in Fort William also built warplanes such as the Hawker Hurricane and the Curtiss Helldiver.
The workforce at the time consisted of thousands of people, a good many of them women whose jobs included putting the planes together on the production line. Hence came the nickname “Rosie the Riveter.”
The Mackrells ended up in Fort William after William tried to join the armed forces.
Like other Saskatchewan men, he had wanted to be part of the war effort, but was ultimately rejected. He had only one good eye, due to an underlying medical condition.
But the option of going to work at the Canada Car plant was presented to him instead.
“They told him about Thunder Bay — Fort William-Port Arthur at that time — and they told him he could go down there.”
The other possibility was working in the bush, Minnie said, but “he was too light for bush work.”
Right after being married in Saskatoon, both William and Minnie moved to Fort William, where they took up jobs at Canada Car.
The reason he went to Canada Car was because of his electrical expertise, with responsibilities involving the bombs that were installed in the planes. He was also sent to Mount McKay, the site where they tested the bombs to make sure they worked.
“If something was wrong with one of them, that’s why they brought him out, always,” Minnie recalls.
Minnie initially had a job as a riveter, but found she wasn’t cut out for that role, mainly because of the loud noises from riveting the planes.
She moved on to be a “chaser,” which meant she chase down parts needed for the various aircraft being built.
Minnie said the parts often wouldn’t be available until night when the shipments would arrive.
“The idea was, coming in at night, I guess they didn’t see them coming in,” she said.
”(We were) bringing the parts from the States to Canada, that’s the way I kind of figured it out now.”
Minnie said the plant could easily have been bombed by opposing forces.
“Oh boy, that could have been one place they’d hit if they got a chance,” she remembers.
Fortunately, the Axis forces had bigger problems to deal with in Europe. They were on the retreat and finally surrendered in 1945.
After the end of the war, the Mackrells moved to the Niagara Falls area and stayed there for seven years.
Minnie, who has lived in Dodsland and Wilkie and now lives in North Battleford, wanted to share the story of the Canada Car plant and those who worked there to remember those involved in the war effort in those days.
She provided a number of pictures from the plant from that era, showing what it was like during the war years.
Also provided was a poem written by one of the women at the plant, which included these passages:
“In the town of Fort William near Mountain McKay
Where they’re turning out aircraft by nite and by day
And the sound of production is heard from afar.
In the Hurricane plant of the Canada Car.
… Come on up and join us and help with the planes
You don’t need an overabundance of brains
If you’re good with a hammer, an axe, or a bar
You’ll go a long way with the Canada Car.”
