VE1VCI Merle Taylor, August 2, 1923 – 22 April, 2021, (She was 98).Merle had just turned sixteen when war was declared in September 1939.
In 1942, when Merle was 19, she saw an opportunity to apply to be a Wireless Operator in the Royal Canadian Air Force, Women’s Division. She was hired and her main responsibility was Morse Code.
After her training, Merle was sent to Number 1 Wireless School in Montreal. There she learned how to use Morse Code, how to signal using lights and flags, as well as other theoretical classes such as the components of a radio. She taught the code to pilots through the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.
On her twentieth birthday August 2, 1943, she married Fred Taylor.
In 1986 Merle passed the exams necessary to become a ham radio operator – receiving a mark of 100 percent on the Morse Code test. She set up her radio system in her basement and communicated with people around the world, both through voice and Morse Code. During the 1980s, she even won the provincial annual amateur radio competition.
The image below shows Fred and Merle on their wedding day, which was also Merle’s twentieth birthday. You can see their matching red shoulder badges with rays of electricity, showing that they were both in Communications.
More about this remarkable woman’s life, with pictures, on the sites listed below:
Credits ; Heather Holland – Thanks….
