Katherine Dewar of Charlottetown has significantly contributed to our knowledge and understanding of the role that Island women played in the Second World War.
Her book We'll Meet Again: Prince Edward Island Women of the Second World War documents the experiences of those Island women who answered the call to serve their country.
The book recounts how nursing sisters were the first women in service, the first to go overseas, and that they served the longest. The book also speaks to women's struggles to be recognized as valuable assets to the war effort and outlines the recruitment strategy, methods of training, and women's roles in the various services.
The book is also filled with biographies of PEI women veterans woven from interviews, letters, diaries, and secondary sources. Women's wartime experiences are situated within their lifespan and demonstrate how their military service had a lasting effect on their lives and local communities.
The wealth of primary sources and the appendix, which lists 715 PEI women who served in the war, will be of significant interest to researchers, especially since the military records for the Second World War are still sealed.
This work also performs the important task of interviewing Island women veterans of the Second World War, capturing their memories and stories before they disappear.
Dewar is the author of two other books: Called To Serve: Georgina Pope Canadian Military Nursing Heroine, and Those Splendid Girls: The Heroic Service of Prince Edward Island Nurses in the Great War.