'We don’t take women in here': How a group of women veterans worked to be recognized in Sask.

SASKATOON -

Men make up a large number of the veterans of the two World Wars, but a group of women service members wanted to make sure they were recognized here in Saskatchewan.

Ruth Bond-Martinson, 96, joined the navy in 1944 and remembers how she felt as a young Canadian joining the war effort.

“I was so proud of my uniform. I stood tall, today I still stand tall. Very proud of the fact that I answered the call and fulfilled my call,” Bond-Martinson told CTV News.

She lived in Ontario with her family at the time and recalls what drove her to want to do her duty for her country as a young adult.

“I just wanted to be part of it because it was so heart wrenching,” Bond-Martinson explains.

She grew up in a small town of 300 people and it hit home when war deaths were announced.

“Some of my neighbourhood boys who had gone overseas with the army didn’t come back and of course that’s what you remember. You really don’t remember them being alive, you just remember they’re gone and they’re not coming back,” she said.

Bond-Martinson wasn’t afraid of what lay ahead or where she’d be stationed, and her parents were supportive of the decision their 18-year-old daughter was making.

“They didn’t seem to be worried. I don’t remember my mother saying you can’t go. I was the oldest of four. They were thrilled, my father particularly was. He had nobody old enough to go to war. I was number one and the oldest at 18,” she says.

She was stationed in Windsor Ontario joining 24 other women in the first group of women to become part of Canada’s navy which was facing a lot of firsts with the new recruits.

They were not allowed in the barracks according to Bond-Martinson and were billeted in private homes. The women of HMCS Hunter were cooks for the men in training to be sent to the war effort overseas.

“I wanted to go out to sea but quickly found out I could not go because women were not allowed on ships. It was very bad luck. When the ships would come into harbour, it was taboo, don’t go near them,” she said. The navy was very superstitious according to Bond-Martinson who says women weren’t allowed on vessels until decades later.

Further to those restrictions, when Bond-Martinson returned from the war with her naval husband who was from Saskatchewan, they were met with more exclusion based on the Royal Candian Legion's leadership requirements at the time..

“The Legion said whoa, we don’t take women in here this is all men veterans and the women said this is terrible,” she said.

The women who returned had a strong bond and wanted to stay connected. As a result of that, The Maple Leaf Unit was formed in Saskatoon with the Army Navy Airforce Veterans (ANAVETS).

Female service members who have passed away are honoured on plaques at the ANAVETS club. It’s recognition that should’ve always been there according to the president of ANAVETS Unit 38 Al Boyce.

“I was totally surprised too. It doesn’t matter if you’re male or female, if you’re a veteran, you’re a veteran,” Boyce said.

Boyce is an air force veteran who served in the Gulf War.

“What the ANAVETS did was include the women and I think that’s important. And we should be proud of the fact that one of our members and included them and got that because the Legion didn’t want to do it,” Boyce said.

Bond-Martinson is now the president of the Maple Leaf Unit and part of a shrinking number of Second World War veterans in Canada.

Adding to that deep sense pride for the great great grandmother who proudly flies a Canadian flag outside the front window of her home.