Maudie was born in Wabigoon and along with her siblings Victor, Gordon, Margaret, and Laverne, served in the Canadian Armed Forces during the Second World War.
Maudie (Smith) Lundmark enlisted in the RCAF in Winnpeg in 1942.
Maudie tried to enlist with the Canadian Army in February 1942. She was told that the Army was not taking any more personnel. Finally, on September 9, 1942, she was accepted with the RCAF in Winnipeg.
The RCAF sent her for training at the Manning Depot located on the outskirts of Ottawa. She received one month of basic training which included learning to march, and how to perform general duties which also included learning how to make a bed. After Ottawa, she went back to Manitoba and continued her general duties which included cleaning the offices, and washing dishes. As she only had a grade eight education, she could not train as a meteorologist.
After basic training, she was posted to England where she was based at various RCAF bases including London and Yorkshire.
During a leave, she visited the Lake Superior Regiment to see her brothers Victor and Laverne.
As it happened, Johnny Vost from Dryden was standing guard at the gate as well!
As the war went on, her brother Laverne would be killed, another brother – Gordon – went missing while serving the Special Services and Johnn Vost was killed in Belgium.
Maudie returned to Canada by way of New York. She took a train to Montreal and got off at Wabigoon on December 4, 1945. She received her honourable discharge from the RCAF in Winnipeg on January 15, 1946
Image and story originates from an Spuro Sourtzis interview with Maudie in 2012.
