The Vermilion Heritage Museum recently received a scrapbook of Jesse Islay McDonald, a former Supervisor at the Canadian Women’s Army Corp (CWAC) Training Camp that was here in Vermilion during World War II. McDonald was in the area from October of 1942 to May of 1944, and her great-nephew Jeff contacted museum volunteer Loretta Quickstad wondering if the museum would be interested in having the scrapbook for display.
The scrapbook highlights McDonald’s time here and her service time in Calgary which began in 1945. Quickstad plans on contacting museums in the Calgary area to see if they would like copies of the scrapbook. Being 70 years old, parts of the book are falling apart, including most pages the pictures were scotch-taped to, the tape has disintegrated as has the paper, so a copy will be made that museum patrons can peruse. The original will be put on display later this year in the museum’s war section cabinet.