The Story: This photo is in the Library and Archives of Canada
with the following untrue caption: “Mary Greyeyes being blessed
by her native Chief prior to leaving for service in the CWAC ”.
Other places have Mary as an “Indian princess” being blessed by
her father and chief. Also untrue. The Facts: Here is the true
story as related by her daughter-in-law, Melanie Fahlman Reid.
Mary Greyeyes, aka Mary Reid, enlisted in the Canadian Women’s
Army Corps in 1942. Her brother David had joined the Army not
long before, so Mary decided to give it a go as well. She was
living on the Cree reserve at Muskeg Lake, north of Saskatoon,
at the time. She wrote to the War Department and eventually got
a letter telling her to travel to Regina and take a test. Mary
had gone to a residential school and, in those days, there was
no education for Indians beyond Grade 8, so she was
apprehensive. But she passed with flying colors and became the
first native to join the Canadian Women’s Army Corps.The white
women didn’t want her in