Bomb Girls: Trading Aprons for Ammo

by Barbara Dickson

Gives a rare account of life in Canada's largest Second World War munitions facility, built and managed by General Engineering Company Ltd. Located on 346 acres in Scarborough, Ontario, GECO hired over twenty-one thousand employees — predominantly women — who risked life and limb handling high explosives daily.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, War, World War II, Canada, 20th Century

349 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2015

Reviews

[Gail Amendt · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title of this book, while catchy, and perhaps paying homage to the British TV show, is a bit misleading. This book is not just about the women working at a munitions plant, but rather a history of the plant as a whole. Specifically, it is about the munitions plant operated by the General Engineering Company (Canada) Limited in Scarborough, Ontario during WWII. GECO most certainly employed a large number of women, but also many men, and the book is about how the plant came to be, how it was built, how it was run, and what it accomplished. The overall story is very interesting and well researched. There are a number of stories of individuals who worked there, but also a great deal of technical information about the manufacturing process. This isn't an aspect of WWII history that I was familiar with, the records having been kept secret for quite some time after the war. I must say I was impressed to find out that Canada had such a large, well run wartime munitions plant with a safety record perhaps unequaled in the world.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story of extraordinary women who worked in a bomb-making factory in Scarborough, Ontario during WWII. A huge complex of buildings was put on expropriated farmland. Despite the dangers of the work of filling bombs, there were no casualties. It is important to remember the work done by these women to help the war effort. There is much information about the building of this place, some of it rather dull, but still important to the story. MP Michelle Berardinetti of Scarborough commissioned a beautiful mural on an underpass on St. Clair Ave. which depicts the work of these women.

[Darlene Stericker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating reading and no details left untold. The personal stories were interesting; some of the technical details were dry.

[Alaine]

This starts out pretty dry. I may be burned out on reading for school because I am interested in the topic, but couldn't get into it.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have liked for this to be an account of women munitions workers during the war, as promised by the title. This was, instead, the story of one specific factory and an account of some of the people (not just women) who worked there. It was still interesting, but it was not well written and many components left me unsatisfied.

The facts sometimes conflicted, such as the story of the woman who lived nearby and said she enjoyed walking to work. Later, the author (in talking about security and then again in the section about fleet vehicles) said it was mandatory policy to drive everyone to the gates, including those who lived nearby. Which is it? There were also the girls on night shift who always stopped for a beer before work (but it was also stated amongst the gravest of fireable offenses that workers were never to be remotely inebriated in any way, etc etc.)

To my greater annoyance, it skipped the "meat" of being a woman (specifically) and working in this time and place! One of the biggest missed opportunities I saw here was only the briefest mention of the Miss War Worker contest. I did like the detail about anonymous suggestion boxes GECO installed, so that women could voice their opinion without having it dismissed because "If a man hadn't already thought of it, it likely wasn't a valid idea."

Fuses. For all the explanation of the powder and filling, I still don't have much idea of how they actually worked. Doesn't that seem odd for having just completed a book that is 80% focused on the production of munitions?

It was very repetitive and badly organized. It jumped back and forth in time. She also told many tales in full two or three times, sometimes with a new detail added and sometimes not. (Example the snow storm to end all snow storms was described "brand new" but in the same way in many places throughout the book many times...)

For a historical account, I would have liked the timeline to progress chronologically so that the story unfolded as it happened OR that ideas be grouped better and those tales told in full before moving on to the next. It felt like it was written in research chunks, and rather than be grouped later, those chunks were placed into the larger folder, where they stayed when published. I think it's missing many important details or stories. The emphasis is on the wrong things or else the bridges were never well-formed to support those ideas.

For what it's worth, I think this could've been a great book with the benefit of a major edit and reorg. I was startled to see this book took ten years to create.

[Bohdana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative. The book gives plenty of context in the way that it can be read out of order. At the same time, that element of the book also makes it seem repetitive at times. I read the first half as an ebook and read the rest of it in paperback.

The book covers the creation of "Scarboro", the departments, the policies, hiring process, training, uniforms, leisure activities at GECO, and what became of the GECO after the war. Chapter 7 (pp. 88-154) are just individual stories of those who worked in GECO or in a munition's factory at the time. The book uses a lot of images in the book not all of which is available on the Archives of Ontario website under fonds F2082.

The book uses a lot of primary sources (bibliography at the end of the book and Notes on her website. I was a bit confused by the choice to post the Notes on her website. Still, it makes historical images more accessible and in context (since the Archives of Ontario only have a portion of the GECO fonds online; City of Toronto Archives has none save the ones in articles, but the Toronto Public Library has a few photographs online). Overall, the book makes sure to discuss all aspects of GECO.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is clearly a labor of love for the author's hometown of Scarborough, or Scarboro, as it was known at the time. The book is far more than the title implies. While significant portions of the book are devoted to the largely female workforce, the larger part covers the general operation of the GECO plant, and can get a bit technical at times. Tighter editing would have been in order as some facts and anecdotes were repeated throughout the book. Nevertheless, an important piece of local and national history.

[Pat Brethour · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book Club book - 2024 Chosen by Kerri
The overall story was very interesting, well researched and informative. I really enjoyed the personal stories, and follow up - Where they are now. I was very impressed to find out that Canada had such a large, well run wartime munitions plant with a safety record bar none!
I was however, disappointed that the majority of the book was focused on the details surrounding the building/operation of the GECO plant, which I found a bit dry and repetitive at times. I would have liked to see more details surrounding the female works.

[Nanci · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating history of a munitions plant that operated during the Second World War in the “Golden Mile” area of Scarborough Ontario. From 1941 to 1945, over 17,000 workers, primarily women, were employed by the General Engineering Co of Canada or Geco to assemble fuses for military missiles, land mines, torpedoes, bombs and explosive shells. It was highly dangerous work. Approximately 170 buildings and a massive tunnel system were built but only a few buildings remain today.

[Brian Bigelow · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is a bit dry in places but is quite informative.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some stories of the bomb girls, but many more details of the actual factory site. Not what I was expecting.

[Karen Wales · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. Not really as advertised. It was more a history of the company than the women working in the factory.

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent read! My mother was a bomb girl at DIL in Ajax and my dad worked there as well, so the history of the munitions plants in this area is of great interest to me.

[Bonnie Szirtes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting story - Canadian Second World War history not taught in schools, unfortunately.