Prior to this time, women were only allowed to fill the role of Nursing Sisters in the RCAF Medical Service. The RCAF allowed women to join through the creation of the Canadian Women’s Auxiliary Air Force that later became the RCAF Women’s Division (WD). Her mother, Sophie Bennett, was also very involved in the war effort, serving as Vice-Chair of the Women’ s War Efforts Committee of the Canadian Jewish Congress. She interrupted her studies in 1943 to join the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). In 1941, Norda Bennett began an honours program in Philosophy and English at the University of Toronto. Major in the Royal Canadian Air Force(RCAF) Women’s Division Ontario Jewish Archives, fonds 80, series 2, item 2. Signalman Baxter’s record is listed in the Canadian Virtual War Memorial and the Service Files of the Second World War – War Dead, 1939-1947. This story demonstrates the emotional toil and wounds that were also challenges of serving on the battlefield, prior to a true understanding of mental health and traumatic stress disorders. Memorial crosses were presented to his mother, Kate and his widow, Bernice. He left behind a wife and two daughters aged 10 and seven, and a three-year old son. He was one of the first casualties of the Second World War from Toronto. Sadly, in his effort to prove his ‘unworthiness’ in seeking to be discharged, Julius ingested substances from the medical hospital, poisoning himself to death. While he was serving in the war, a Regimental psychiatrist recommended Julius(a Signalman) be discharged on medical grounds, but he was charged with desertion. He had been promised his job when his active service ended. Julius Baxter was a printer/typographer at the Toronto Daily Star. Signalman, Royal Canadian Corps of Signals
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