Mary Laura Wong
Mary Laura Wong (Mah) enlisted with the CWAC (Canadian Women's Army Corps) in Vancouver, British Columbia where she was employed as a teletype keyboard operator.
Second World War
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[Larry Wong (Interviewer)] Mary Laura Mah was born in Salmon Arm, B.C.
and enlisted in Vancouver.
Assigned to the army barracks that occupied the old Hotel Vancouver,
she worked as a teletype operator.
[Larry] Why did you join the army?
[Mary Laura Wong (Interviewee)] I had a dream that I should join the forces.
I wanted the Air Force but the Air Force had their quota of women.
And I didn't want the Navy
'cause I couldn't stand black stockings in those days. (Laughs)
So, I joined the Army and when I went down to join the Army the fellow said to me,
"You're too young, you're not 18."
So I said to him, "I'll be back tomorrow with my birth certificate,"
and he couldn't believe that I was 19.
So anyways, I came out, they uh sent me out here to...
Kitchener was the basic training, because they had just closed the one in Alberta,
so I came out to Kitchener for basic training.
And after basic training they sent me on a clerk's course there.
And after the clerk, after that course was over the staff sergeant said to me,
"I want you to be a teacher."
I says, "A teacher?" "Yes I want... you're very good,"
she says, "I want you to teach typing."
Oh no, no, no, not me. I says, can you see me, little me, standing
up there teaching all these adults?
She says to me (laughs), "It's not your size, it's what you have up here,"
and I laughed. Anyways, it fell through and I got sent
to Vancouver, and I was stationed at Vancouver in the old Hotel Vancouver.
I was with the Royal Canadian Signal Corps there.
[Larry] Yeah and you... what did you do at the unit?
[Laura] I was a... a teletype operator,
and... and because we worked shift work
we had the 14th floor of the old Hotel Vancouver,
and except one end was used for sick bay.
[Larry] So you didn't stay overnight at the hotel?
[Laura] Yes, yes. We lived there.
[Larry] Ah, you did.
Yes, we had our... our meals, everything and the cooks.
When we had to work the midnight shift, midnight to eight,
the cooks would cook a special meal for us at for 11 o'clock
before we went on duty. And I'm afraid I was very spoiled there
(laughs). They'd say,
"Laura, I've got something special for you,"
and in the candy department they knew I liked Cherry Blossoms,
so when the Cherry Blossoms came in the fellow there would say to me,
"Laura, I've got Cherry Blossoms for you (laughs)."
So I would sometimes...
he would let me buy enough for all the girls in...
that were... in the Signal Corps.
[Larry] Laura were you the only Chinese woman in the Vancouver barracks?
[Laura] Yes, yes, yes.
[Larry] How did it feel at that time?
[Laura] Wonderful, I had a wonderful time.
[Larry] You did eh?
[Laura] Everybody was very friendly and kind and good to me, yeah.
[Larry] You didn't encounter any racial discrimination?
[Laura] No, no racial discrimination of any kind.
[Larry] And did you by any chance um work on any secret documents or anything like that?
[Laura] Oh well, we used to have these Colonels and the higher-ups come in and uh...
and we... I would be on the Ottawa machine and they would dictate to me
and I would teletype for them and...
and they... we'd wait for the answer and then he would.
I guess it was about a half an hour I was with them. Yeah.
[Larry] After the war, Mary was chosen as one of the first three Chinese-Canadian women
to receive her Canadian citizenship in February 1947.
Mary Laura Wong and two friends holding their Canadian citizenship certificates
Where they participated
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