Baker, Kathleen G.: my post-war experiences (November 6, 2006)
An interview/narrative of Kay Baker's experiences with the Canadian Air Force Division in Europe. Interview took place on November 6, 2006.
Interviewer: Smith, Allison
Interviewee: Baker, Kathleen G.
ABSTRACT: Kay Baker (00:15) Kay first married her husband in 1957, nine years later that they moved to Europe. (00:40) They first moved to 3 Wing and later to Sardinia. They lived at 3 Wing for 3 years before they closed the base. (1:40) She was not one of the wives to live vicariously through her husband. 3 Wing was her first experience with rank and she did not want her kids to wander around thinking that their dad was at X on the scale. (2:20) She never wanted to live on the base. 3 Wing was her first real experience of a base. (3:45) There was not really a base life for her to get into. The PMQ's were separated from the base. The grocery store, library, school were all on the base. It was different from other bases. No movie theatres on the base. (5:00) If you wanted to curl you had to go out of the PMQ's over to the base. (5:30) It was not a huge culture shock to her because they were still living in a Canadian community. (6:00) She was not free the first year because she had three children and there weren't many baby sitters around. (7:00) Her husband was an air traffic controller, and she felt like the pilots had it easier because they were closer. He worked shift work. (8:20) Some families had more of a difficult time if they did not have a stable home life, they did. (9:15) To keep their family close they travelled when they had a chance, played lots of games, and camped. (10:50) Bridge was a very big part of the life because they couldn't work. Rank was involved here. (13:00) When her husband got really involved in many extra activities she wrote down what he was off doing every night on the calendar, and after five weeks when he was going off again she brought his attention to it, showing him that he had only been home 4 nights out of all of them. She told him that if this was the way things were going to be then she was out of here (she did not really mean it). The men had lots of stuff going on and the women did not have as much. (14:50) She wanted to work, but she couldn't over there. With her husband having shift work she had to have her life revolve around her husbands job. (15:40) He was away occasionally, but it was the shift work that interrupted their time. (18:00) When the children were little she was the authority because she was there and her husband was not. (18:50) She did not find it lonely because she had three children, and was an avid reader and played the guitar. (19:30) there were no phones on the base, so she did not get to talk to her family in the whole time of the four years. (20:00) They also did not have the same availability to airplanes as people believed. (21:00) It was different for the children's life on base, because they could not hope into the car and see different movies. And they couldn't go into stores to get some stuff because of the language difference. (22:30) She felt like she had to agree at sometimes because she was a military wife. You weren't supposed to be political or talk religion. You were also supposed to go to events that people put on if you were not busy. (23:40) She did not know of any social groups that were available for her to take part in. (25:00) there was health care available on the base (25:30) there was the CanX (grocery store and furniture store) the Mess had great entertainment, dinners, dances, parties. (26:20) They had a very social life over there. It was hard at first because they did not know anyone. (27:00) and the PMQ's were not on the base per say. (28:00) She did not think they really cared what they did as long as they behaved. (28:30) the school over there was really good on the base for the children. (29:30) She never felt the wives needed to go to TGIF on Fridays. It was always Friday night, which she thought was annoying and they sometimes drank to much. (32:20) She felt it was up to her whether or not 3 wing felt like a home. (33:30) they had a wonderful time over there. (34:00) Because her husband was an Air traffic controller her life was a bit different. He was in less danger because he was not in the line of fire. (40:00) She never felt the atmosphere was that tense because she never thought anyone would drop that bomb. And if they did what could you do about it. (42:20) Some people would come home to visit their family, because she had three children. (43:00) the moving around could cause some marital problems for those who had to leave family so far away. (44:20) sometimes her husband has to miss holidays like Christmas and new years, but if you missed one you had the other holiday together. (45:30) if you marry someone in the service you soon learn what that life means.
- In Collection:
- 2 sound recordings (MP3)
- 48.69096, 9.14062
- 40, 9
- Original recordings (DVF) on compact disc (CD) in Special Collections.
- Canadian Military Oral History Collection
- BKG_507
- Special Collections Finding Aid: https://uvic2.coppul.archivematica.org/military-oral-history-collection
- January 23, 2013
- Digital sound recording in .mp3 format at 56 kbps and 22 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
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Baker_K_0507_01.mp3 |
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Baker_K_0507_02.mp3 |
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