On this day in 1942

On July 31, 1942, the Women’s Royal Canadian Navy Service was created. It was a separate service from the Royal Canadian Navy. Before this, Canada did not have a woman’s service, but England had been recruiting since 1938. At the beginning of the Second World War, the Canadian government did not support the idea of having women in the navy and it took two years of war before they changed their minds. In 1942, the Royal Canadian Navy finally decided they needed a woman’s help. They sent a request to the British Admiralty to send them a “Wren.” Wren was the name that was given to members of the Women’s Royal Naval Service (Britain) and members of the Women’s Royal Canadian Navy Service eventually took the same name. See full story in the Wednesday, July 31 edition of The Record.