By Mannat, Alumni Council
Bomb Girls:
The Second World War was a mechanized total war. What happened on the front line depended on the home front. The world economy was mobilized on both sides to produce equipment, supplies, and ammunition needed for victory. As a part of the massive effort, General Engineering Company Canada Limited (aka GECO) built and ran a massive fuse filling plant in Scarborough, Ontario. GECO personnel often referred to their workers as the “Fourth Arm of Service” or “The Girls Behind the Guns.”
In 1940, Allied Supplies Corporation (AWSC) contacted GECO to construct a plant. Between July 1941 to 1945, more than 256 million munitions were filled. GECO was a catalyst for Scarborough. The cheap and low taxes of the area of Scarborough brought in a new industry… and it was the start of the Golden Mile (Canada’s first industrial centre).
https://www.barbaradickson.ca/bomb-girls-at-geco/
Underneath the bustling building lay an underground tunnel where the girls would discreetly enter and exit. When the Second World War ended, businesses moved in, ignorant of the rich and intriguing stories. They sealed up the old tunnels, and with them, a treasured era. Sadly, if you listen closely, you can hear the creaking of old trap doors closing, ending a unique era – not only in Scarborough, but in Canadian and world history, as well.
https://www.barbaradickson.ca/scarboroughs-tunnels
From Autumn 1941-1945, 30,000 workers came to work in Scarborough. They gave out different flyers. A few were attractive while others were remarkably simple. “Our requirements are simple,” remarked Ms. Grace Hyndman (plant head). “We need women of any age, physically capable of anything to do very light work for two hours at a stretch and resuming after rest periods.”
https://www.durhamregion.com/news/ajaxs-bomb-girls-their-story/article_a1ff2719-170e-591e-b9d4-f7f51c6d940b.html
The company had its own newspaper, called the GECO Fusilier, and for $1 a year the workers could also join the GeoCities Recreation Club. Workers took breaks in a massive two thousand seat cafeteria where the kitchen served more than three thousand meals a day. They also supplied childcare for working mothers.
They served so that the men could fly. Their commitment helped bring an end to the Second World War. It is imperative that Canada as a whole honour the women from across the great nation who left their mothers, father, and their siblings to move Toronto, and fill munitions for Canada and the allied forces during the war.
https://www.vintageinn.ca/2021/06/the-bomb-girls-of-scarborough-ontario-canada-as-seen-thru-vintage-photographs-from-the-1940s/
Bomb Girls risked their lives by handling dangerous explosives and gunpowder daily during the Second World War. A risky undertaking involving seventy-six different operations just to stuff one of the forty-one types of fuses they had filled.
It has a huge impact on Canadian society today.
References:
“Stories of Canadian Bomb Girls Stories of Canadian Bomb Girls.” Barbara Dickson, http://www.barbaradickson.ca/stories-of-canadian-bomb-girls.“
‘Bomb Girls’: Defense Industries Limited and the Home Front – Canada’s History.” ‘Bomb Girls’: Defense Industries Limited and the Home Front – Canada’s History, 1 Apr. 2020, http://www.canadashistory.ca/education/lesson-plans/bomb-girls-defense-industries-limited-and-the-home-front.
“Bomb Girls of Scarborough.” Bomb Girls of Scarborough, http://www.facebook.com/bombgirlsofscarborough.
Brooks, Harrison. “Remembering Canada’s Second World War Bomb Girls.” 650 CKOM, http://www.ckom.com/2019/11/09/631845.
BC Heritage Fairs Alumni 