Elizabeth Samson was born June 20, 1922 in Coleman, Alberta.  Her maternal grandparents were indigenous:  they were non-registered Cree First Nations.  Elizabeth’s father was of German descent, an immigrant from the U.S.  She grew up in a large family with five siblings; it was a mining area where the workers came from everywhere – a real melting pot.  Her father had tried the mines but settled on work as a lumberjack, and Elizabeth’s mother would take work as a cook.  The children’s early life unwound against the backdrop of the Great Depression, though as Elizabeth recalls they did not know they were poor.  War came in September 1939 and her two older brothers joined the army in the early days of the war, and both of them saw action overseas.  Her brother George was killed when a POW of the Germans, and her other brother James was awarded the Military Medal for service in the Hochwald Forest.  Elizabeth joined when she turned 18, though in her case it was the RCAF.  She trained as a hospital assistant, and most of her service took place in Ontario, at BCATP schools such as Jarvis.  During this time she was selected to serve on a precision drill squad, and Elizabeth and the other WDs travelled through Canada as part of a victory bond drive.  Later, she chose the hospital assistant option as she was not interested in general duties:  as a hospital assistant, it was Elizabeth’s job to care for wounded airmen, and to help the nurses and doctors with patients.  She has many memorable stories of some of the patients she cared for during this time.  She was demobilized in short order after the war, and she went back to school, where she met her husband.  He had served with the Royal Regiment of Canada during the war and was recovering from his wounds and taking advantage of his veterans’ benefits to complete high school, as was Elizabeth.  The two of them married in 1947and they would be together for the next 72 years, raising their family and finding their place in postwar Canada. Elizabeth was interviewed by Scott Masters and Zach Dunn at the Sunnybrook Veterans’ Wing in Toronto in July 2025.