The Icelandic connection - 01.06.2014, Blaðsíða 34

176
ICELANDIC CONNECTION
Vol. 66 #4
The Other War Heros
by Elva Simundsson
Margret, Anna and Svanhildur Lily
Halldorsson were three sisters
from a family of ten siblings, the children
of Halldor Halldorsson and Stefania
Baldvinsdottir. They had a homestead in
the Vogar area, near the east shores of
Lake Manitoba. Halldor died in 1930
leaving his widow with too many mouths
to feed and not enough resources to
hold her family together. By the time
she was twelve Margret was living with
a neighbouring farm family and working
for her board and room before and after
school. When she was fifteen, in 1933
she went to work, first in Gypsumville as
a cook’s helper
for a fishing
camp and then
later she moved
to Winnipeg.
There she
found work
as a domestic
servant and
nanny at various
homes. Anna
finished grade
eight and then
went to work
for a nearby farming and fishing family.
In 1939, World War II started. With
the war in Europe raging, Great Britain
was staunchly defending itself from
Germany’s relentless attacks. Britain
turned to its fellow Commonwealth
countries for support. Countries like
Canada responded by sending troops to
Europe as well as initiating a massive
development of the industrial production
of aircraft, military vehicles and
armaments back home. With all the young
men enlisting there was a significant
shortage of manpower for the factories
that sprang up all over Canada. There
had never been such a call for women in
the workforce and for women to fill jobs
in non-traditional industrial work. The
airplane, tanks and munitions factories
were begging for workers to fill the
positions. By 1943, it was said there were
more women in the industrial workforce
in Canada than the total number of all
workers in any pre-war year prior.
In 1940 the British and Canadian
governments invested twenty million
dollars in the construction of a “Cordite
Plant”. An area just east of the town of
Transcona (now a suburb of Winnipeg)
was chosen as the location for a facility
where a highly explosive material known
as cordite was manufactured for use
in ammunition. In addition to cordite,
other explosives, nitro-cellulose and
nitroglycerine, were also produced.
The plant operated twenty-four hours
a day from 1941 to 1945 under a great
deal of secrecy. Because of the volatile
nature of the materials, the factory was
located outside the city, thirty minutes
by rail from Union Station in downtown
Winnipeg. The location was chosen
because of its proximity to water, power,
rail lines and a supply of labour. Workers
boarded a special ‘Cordite Train’ for
PHOTO COURTESY OF ELVA SIMUNDSSON
Margret and Anna
(circa 1940)