Remembrance Day services are scheduled across Mountain View County, including in Didsbury, Carstairs and Cremona.
Ninety-five-year-old Alice Airriess is one of those scheduled to be at the Cremona service. She served three years in the Canadian Women's Army Corp (CWAC) from 1942 to 1945.
Airriess had four brothers – Frank, Phil, Glen and John – serving in the Canadian Army during the war. When Frank was captured at Hong Kong in December 1941, Alice made the decision to join up.
“I thought that any little thing that could help to bring the war to a close I would be happy to do it,” Airriess told the Gazette.
The CWAC was a non-combatant branch of the Canadian Armed Forces, with members serving in roles such as mechanics, cooks and secretaries such as Airriess.
During her service in Europe in 1944 and 1945, Airriess and her fellow CWAC members were repeatedly under V-1 and V-2 rocket attacks in England and on the continent.
She was wounded in the face by flying glass during a rocket explosion in Antwerp, Belgium on Dec. 23, 1944.
“It hit just across the street from the office I was working in,” she said. “I had my back to the window and I remember putting my hands on the back of my neck because I didn't want to have my head cut off. I had a piece of glass that hit a sixteenth of an inch from my one eye.”
Sadly, Airriess's brother Frank died shortly after being released in Japan at the end of the war.
For her part, Airriess said it is right and fitting that the thousands of women who served in the Canadian Forces during the Second World War are recognized for their efforts.
“We did a lot of work,” she said. “Everybody did their share. And I got back safely.”
This year's Remembrance Day services across Canada will recognize women who served.
