Marie Warren

Prepared by the Witnesses of War team

Marie Annie Warren, née Neilson, was born on 25 August 1924 in Toronto, Ontario. She grew up with four sisters and a brother during the Great Depression. Financial difficulties forced her to leave school after Grade 11, and she spent a year doing wartime production work at Philco Radio before volunteering for the air force.

In 1942, she joined the Royal Canadian Air Force Women’s Division. Posted to Princess Alice Barracks in Ottawa, she served as a postal clerk, sorting military correspondence and typing reports. Her work helped maintain the vital connection between Canadian servicemen overseas and their families at home. She remained in service until 1945.

Alongside her clerical duties, Marie became a drummer in the Women’s Division band and marched in Ottawa’s VE Day parade, celebrating the end of the war in Europe. Throughout her service, she exchanged letters with her boyfriend, a fellow air force member serving overseas. After his return from Burma, they married in January 1946 and subsequently raised their family in Toronto.

On 4 December 2025, aged 101, Marie received replacements for her long-lost Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and War Medal 1939–1945 during a ceremony at her retirement residence in Barrie.