Women Overseas Memoirs of the Canadian Red Cross Corps

In these Red Cross memoirs, thirty women tell their stories of volunteer work with the Canadian Red Cross Corps in overseas postings during World War Two and the Korean War. These dramatic narratives take us across oceans infested with enemy submarines to witness Canadian women on duty in the U.K., in Europe and in Asia. Laced with humour and filled with grace, these stories are a testament to the vital yet often overlooked responsibilities that thousands of women gallantly accepted for the Allied war effort. Women Overseas is a companion volume to the national bestseller Blackouts to Bright Lights: Canadian War Bride Stories.

Frances Martin Day is a former member of the Canadian Red Cross Corps and has been a member of the Overseas Club, Victoria Branch, for many years. Since her overseas experience she has studied art, fashion and drawing in Montreal, and is well known for her paintings. Phyllis Spence studied sociology and psychology at the University of Victoria, graduating in 1989. While at university, she and Barbara Ladouceur became interested in oral histories and this eventually led to their collaboration in the bestseller, Blackouts to Bright Lights: Canadian War Bride Stories (1995). Phyllis currently works in a hospital staffing department and an evening program for seniors in Victoria. Barbara Ladouceur earned a BA in English and Women's Studies at the University of Victoria in 1989. She then travelled to York, England to study women's life writings in the Women's Studies programme at the University of York. In 1990, she graduated with an MA in Women's Studies and returned to Canada. She now resides in Vancouver where she works as an ESL teacher and freelance editor.