{"id":773,"date":"2011-10-16T23:13:28","date_gmt":"2011-10-17T06:13:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ccmm.sodadesign.com\/?page_id=773"},"modified":"2026-02-01T11:46:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T19:46:15","slug":"mary-laura-wong-mah","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ccmms.ca\/staging\/9619\/veteran-stories\/army\/mary-laura-wong-mah\/","title":{"rendered":"Mary Laura Wong (Mah)"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Mary Laura Wong (Mah) dreamed of joining the Air Force when the Second World War broke out. When she discovered the Air Force was not taking any more women, Mary did not hesitate\u00a0to sign up with\u00a0the Army. She enlisted with the CWAC (Canadian Women’s Army Corps).<\/p>

With her round, baby face, Mary\u00a0did not look old enough to enlist. When she tried to join the recruiting officer exclaimed “You’re too young, you’re not 18.”<\/p>

Mary shot back\u00a0\u00a0“I’ll be back tomorrow with my birth certificate,” but the officer\u00a0still found it hard to believe that she\u00a0was 19 years old.<\/p>

\"Mary<\/a>

Mary Laura Wong<\/p><\/div>

Mary was sent to Kitchener, Ontario for basic training. Then later took some clerical courses. She was so good, that\u00a0a staff sergeant asked if Mary\u00a0would be willing to become\u00a0a teacher for new recruits. She declined and later found herself back in Vancouver where she was employed as a teletype keyboard operator stationed out of the old Hotel Vancouver.<\/p>

Mary felt no discrimination from her peers and had many good memories of her time in service “Staying at the Hotel Vancouver they\u00a0had a beautiful roof garden there. So sometimes in the afternoon before we had to go to work, we would sunbathe out on the roof garden.”<\/p>

\"Mary<\/a>

Mary Laura Wong with Army friends on the roof garden of the Hotel Vancouver<\/p><\/div>

After the war, in 1947, Mary was chosen to be among the first Chinese Canadians to receive their citizenship papers. In March of 2016, Mary passed away in Toronto in her 93rd year.<\/p>

Listen to Mary’s\u00a0interview for the Heroes Remember <\/a>documentary series.<\/p>

\"Mary<\/p>

Watch\u00a0her interview with Alison McLean of Tomboy Productions.<\/p>