Bobcaygeon bomb girl, 102, reflects on her Second World War

It is hard to imagine the government telling Canadians how to spend their vacation time, but that is exactly what happened to Evelyn Tullock (nee Harnden) of Bobcaygeon. She was a public school teacher working at Orono when she got the word in 1944.

“I got a letter from the Department of Education in June telling me that for July and August I was to report to the Defence Industries Limited (DIL) plant in what is now Ajax,” recalls the 102-year-old. Her uncle was overseas and her aunt – who could not afford to keep their apartment and lived with the Tullock’s – was already working there. So Evelyn signed on. She joined hundreds of employees, most of them women and now known as “Bomb Girls,” at one of Canada’s (and the British Empire’s) largest munitions factories during the Second World War.

“There were four, long green metal buildings that were put up very quickly and looked like sheds called ‘Lines’ and each line made a different kind of munition. We worked on three, eight-hour shifts and the conveyor only stopped at shift change.”

Women like Tullock came from all over Canada to work at DIL, often because plants were fully staffed in their home areas. It was an adventure for the young women who left their homes on the prairies or in the Maritimes to work under highly secure and dangerous conditions six-days a week at lower wages than the men who did comparable labour. Some that came to the DIL plant in Pickering from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia were sent back, since they were too wild and staff couldn’t manage them, according to author Barbara Dickson.

The factory was just part of the complex, however, as the undertaking eventually covered 3,000 acres, and in addition to hundreds of houses, boasted a community centre, bowling alley, water and sewage treatment plant, and a school for 600 students. By the end of the war, the factory had filled 40 million shells, employing over 9,000 people in the process.

While teaching, Tullock experienced respiratory issues related to chalk dust, so when her “summer vacation” ended in August, she elected to continue working at the plant in a new capacity. Tullock recalls, “It was heavy work, and the conveyors only stopped at shift change. I didn’t really mind when I got promoted to inspector.” She would later learn that bomb girls however, faced much greater occupational hazards than chalk dust.

Though not commonplace, explosions did occur as shells were filled or transported. One woman lost both her hands when a detonator exploded while she worked on it. More common were the effects of handling trinitrotoluene. Exposure to TNT frequently yellowed the skin and hair of workers. In extreme cases, liver damage would occur.

Tullock’s most memorable day of work is no surprise. “The day they said the war was over, it was announced over the loudspeaker. The announcer said, ‘Go home. Go home, now.’ Everyone was cheering and laughing, and the conveyors finally stopped.”

She continued working on Line 4 after the end of the war, at least until the plant was decommissioned. She spoke of the camaraderie in the factory, making it sound like they enjoyed the same vibe as any other workplace, despite the work they were doing.

In a newsletter dated June 22, 1945 and written when the last employees were leaving the factory Tullock wrote: “We will all be rather sad to bid adieu to the host of friends we have acquired while doing our share to defeat our enemy – that Nazi horde…memories of Ajax will live forever in our minds…remember our beloved Raleigh salesman and the time we stapled pop bottles into his coat pockets and stapled his sleeves together…it’s a miracle Mr. Carroll’s desk isn’t worn out from his shoes which somehow always seem to be propped up there…as far as the pay envelope goes, I think we all agree it was quite satisfactory…as far as working conditions, no one can really complain except the cockroaches and they were really working overtime…if we were to enumerate all the exciting, colossal, unbelievable, miraculous, stupendous, hazardous, yet at the same time comical anecdotes that have transpired on good old Line 4, we would run into volumes and volumes.”

Stories like those and the contributions of the bomb girls have not been overlooked by the entertainment and publishing industries. Bell Media produced Bomb Girls: A Documentary after an executive producer read a book written by Barbara Dickson telling the story of the women workers. It took her 10 years of grass-roots research to compile the book since for security reasons, employment records were destroyed after the war. Dickson basically had to rely on word of mouth to find women to interview for Bomb Girls: Trading Aprons for Ammo.

In October, Dickson visited Bobcaygeon to present Tullock with a certificate commemorating her work at the Ajax plant on behalf of the Bomb Girls Legacy Foundation. Says Dickson, “It was such an honour to present Evelyn with her commemorative scroll, celebrating her war time work. Each…Canadian who served their country on the home front during the Second World War needs to be remembered and treasured. Evelyn, working in a munitions plant, risked her life daily so that men on the front lines had something to put in their guns, to defeat the enemy. We thank Evelyn for her faithful service to her country.”

 The accomplishments of women like Tullock at Defence Industries Limited can be credited with changing the direction of the war, and the perception of working women in Canada. The award-winning mini-series Bomb Girls can be found on streaming services, as can the follow-up movie, Bomb Girls: Facing the Enemy.