An interview/narrative of Sylvia Wilkes's experiences during World War II. Wilkes served with the Womena's Land Army. Interview took place on November 16, 2006.

ABSTRACT: Sylvia Wilkes (née Kegan) Mrs. Sylvia Wilkes (nee Kegan) was born in Arlington, Sussex in Britain. She was 14 years old when World War Two began, and joined the land army. She was stationed in the home town where she worked on a farm, doing typical farm work such as milking cows. She met her husband Jack when she was 16 at a railway station, and they were engaged when she was 18, married in September 1945 in Britain. He was a Canadian soldier from Nova Scotia, and went back to Canada in August 1946, and she followed in December 1946. She was delayed in her voyage when her ship, the Empire Brent (formerly the Leticia), hit a cattle ship and had to be in port for another week before embarking to Canada. The voyage took 12-13 days before arriving in Nova Scotia. Mrs. Wilkes boarded the train to Regina, where her husband was there to meet her and their son. Their son had been suffering from Tuberculosis and had to be taken to the sanatorium; soon afterwards Jack became ill as well, having to be hospitalized. Sylvia moved to Echo Lake, which was closer to the Sanatorium because he son Keith was there and begun to work there as well. Sylvia and Jack had a total of 5 children - Keith, Robert, Colin, Peter, and Joanne. For work, Jack did odd jobs, but their goal was to own a farm. The Veteran's Land Act was able to find them a farm to rent, but they were frozen out for two seasons and found it unsustainable. They continued to do farm work for others in and around Abernethy (outside of Regina). Jack died in 1980 and Sylvia was convinced by her now grown children to move out to Victoria, B.C. Here, she retired and is an active member of the War Bride Association, bowls, travels and goes to church.

Interviewer: Price, Kristin

Interviewee: Wilkes, Sylvia

In Collection:

• Canadian Military Oral Histories

Contributor

• Wilkes, Sylvia
• Price, Kristin

Subject

• World War (1939-1945)
• Personal narratives--Canadian
• World War (1914-1918)
• Military history

Language

• eng

Date created

• November 16, 2006

Relation

• Title of paper: "British War Brides".
• Part of the Military Oral History Class collection of interviews.

Resource type

• Sound

Rights statement

• In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Extent

• 1 sound recording (MP3)

Geographic Coverage

• British Columbia--Victoria

Coordinates

• 48.4359, -123.35155

Additional physical characteristics

• One original audio cassette in Special Collections.

Physical Repository

• University of Victoria (B.C.). Library

Collection

• Canadian Military Oral History Collection

Provider

• University of Victoria (B.C.). Library

Genre

• interviews
• sound recordings
• reminiscences
• oral histories (literary genre)

Archival item identifier

• WS_506

Fonds title

• Military oral history collection

Fonds identifier

• SC141

Is referenced by

• Special Collections Finding Aid: https://uvic2.coppul.archivematica.org/military-oral-history-collection

Date digitized

• January 24, 2013

Technical note

• Digital sound recording in .wav format at 16 bits and 44 kHz. In .mp3 format at 56 kbps and 24 kHz. Digitized by JF, technical and cataloguing metadata provided by JF and JP. Interview migrated to digital format for UVic Special Collections in 2013. Migration metadata by KD and MT.

Rights

• This interview has been posted with the understanding that it may be used for research purposes only. Should the interviewee or their heirs have any objections to this interview being accessible on the Internet, it will be removed promptly. Contact UVic Special Collections for permission if using for other than research purposes: speccoll@uvic.ca

DOI

•  https://doi.org/10.58066/ncp8-t120

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