I was stationed in Uplands, Ontario, when I got the word that I was to be transferred to Grostenquin along with 49 other girls to make up the first draft of Airwomen to be sent overseas in Peacetime. One airman was also on board our ship when we sailed over in March of 1953. I was an LAW and my trade was Telecom Performance Checker (Ground) at that time. I had not volunteered for the transfer and in fact, I spoke to my Sgt. about being taken off the move but I was unable to change the posting so I departed Canada by ocean liner - destination 2 Wing, Grostenquin, France.
We arrived in March of 1953 and I remember being surprised by the warm weather. I didn't expect it to be that warm. Initially, we were taken to Paris and we fortunate to participate in some whilwind tours. When we eventually arrived at 2 Wing, our barracks were in a state of renovation from a male to a female residence. We later moved to another barracks after it had been renovated for female occupancy. I do remember we had a number of problems at the start. One which I remember quite well was when our door knob came off. My room-mate - Marion (Pletch) Thomas - and I were trying to leave for a parade. We ended up climbing out the window but I do not recall whether we managed to make it to the parade on time.
Our group was the first draft of Airwomen to arrive and serve in Europe since the end of the war. Since we were in a foreign country we were instructed to not go off the station wearing slacks as French women didn't wear them. There were a few other "requests" but I think as time went on these were relaxed a bit.
I worked in the Telecommunication area and my main responsibility was installation and repair of the phones on the station. So mostly I was climbing to tops of hangers, poles, etc as the French would not take responsibility for the workings of the phones on our station. I can remember one incident where my boyfriend's officer spotted me on top of a roof and sent "Beav" (my future husband) over with a better ladder for me.
One of my memorable moments took place when I married LAC Donald Wilson Beaverstock of Winnipeg in #3 (F) Wing, Zweibrucken, Germany on November 14, 1953. He died in September of 1993 in Surrey, BC. Another memorable moment was the birth of our first son, Donald Richard at the little hospital on the station on September 3, 1954. Flo Brewer was on duty at the time and she assisted in his birth.
I left GT in November of 1955 in a much different way than when I arrived as a single serviceperson. I was now married with one son and another on the way. I didn't enjoy the trip back near as much as I did the trip over to France as I was quite sick most of the way back. We docked in Quebec City, Quebec, watched and filmed the unloading of our 55 Ford Fairlane Station Wagon and headed to our new posting in St. Bruno, Quebec.