Rene Orris was just 17-years-old when she joined Britain’s Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) during World War II. She crisscrossed the country catering and distributing supplies for camps of men preparing to cross the English Channel for battle.
One of those men would become her husband. As she helped her country at home, he stormed Normandy’s beaches on D-Day.
Upon his fortunate arrival back home, the couple married and had two children, but they never spoke of details from the war in France.
“That was then and we said to ourselves it’s time to look forward,” said the 90-year-old from her apartment in Richmond.
Prior to serving in the the ATS, she survived constant air raids in northwest England, all the while helping others in makeshift underground bunkers by volunteering with her helpful hands (serving coffee and tea under the supervision of an adult).
“We were bombed every night, it seemed. I had seen a whole row (of buildings) go down,” she said.
Orris, a member of the local Army Navy Air Force Veterans of Canada, was chosen by the Royal Canadian Legion to lay a wreath at the Richmond cenotaph (located at Richmond city hall) on Remembrance Day as this year’s Silver Cross Mother, a woman who is chosen to represent mothers who have lost children in service.
Orris lost a brother in the Second World War and her service to the Allied forces is not lost on anyone who meets her.
“It’s such a great honour to be able to lay the wreath,” said Orris, who simply described her loss as “terrible” at the time, particularly since the news came via a telegraph stating her brother was “missing in action.”
Always an active member of her community, both in Britain and in Canada, when asked what she did for a career Orris replied that she was a stay-at-home mother. It’s apparent family and friends are her first cause.
When the war ended, she raised two children while her husband went on to work at the port in Ipswich, as an operator for British Petroleum.
“We all thought it was a war to end all wars,” she said.
t the state of the world and I’m not sure,” she added.
The two came to Canada in 1960, but her husband died soon after, his life cut short by a heart condition.
He had always had trouble sleeping after the war, noted Orris.
Today, she lives comfortably in Richmond, as she’s done for more than 30 years, watching her grandchildren and great grandchildren grow.
She tells them to appreciate things.
“We had to save and work hard for things. You appreciate everything more,” she said.
When asked, Orris said she can’t describe how she feels when she thinks about what the world went through and what it still endures in certain places.
“I don’t know how to put it.”
A minute of reflection passes and more comes to her.
“It’s a different world and we’re lucky to be living in Canada. I hope peace will stay.”
