Barbara Dickson, author of Bomb Girls: Trading Aprons for Ammo, for sharing such an important part of Canadian history with our Middle and Senior School students at Monday’s assembly. She captivated them from the start by passing around an “empty” original bombshell manufactured at the General Engineering Company of Ontario (GECO) munitions factory in Scarborough during WWII.
Ms. Dickson went on to tell the story of the 21,000 employees (95% who were women) who risked their lives every day working with dangerous explosives as part of the Canadian war effort. Employed by the largest ammunition factory in Canada (consisting of 172 buildings, 4 miles of tunnels on 346 acres in Scarborough), these courageous men and women filled a quarter billion rounds of ammunition for Canadian soldiers fighting in Europe.
Following her assembly talk, Ms. Dickson spoke with members of the cast of Radium Girls as a lead up to the CDS drama production taking place at the end of this month. Like Canada’s Bomb Girls, the Radium Girls unknowingly sacrificed their lives for their country as dial painters during WWI and WWII.
🎥🔗To learn more about Canada’s Bomb Girls, watch the trailer for the documentary Ms. Dickson helped produce by the same name, which can be also found on her website.