HARKANS, Mary Evelyn
Age at Death: 26
Rank Private
Unit Canadian Women’s Army Corps
Service Number W4844
Place of Burial Notre Dames des Neiges Cemetery, Montreal PQ
Date of Birth 1917.09.16
Place of Birth Campbellton NB
Enlistment February 13, 1943, Montreal PQ
Date of Death 1944.04.26
Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Harkans, of Mont Joli
Having moved to Mont-Joli, Quebec after completing Grade 7, Mary repeated her entire primary education in French in order to become bilingual. Prior to enlisting, she had worked as an inspector of munitions and petrol gauges at Defence Industry Ltd. In her assessment, she related that she liked writing poetry, and wanted to write stories but felt none of her writing was worth publishing. Her assessor wrote, “She is a quiet, somewhat reserved girl who does not find it too easy to talk to strangers… States that she is sensitive to criticism and seems submissive to a slight degree.”
Private Harkans died at Montreal’s Royal Victoria Hospital. Her cause of death is listed as peritonitis, but this does not tell the full story, as she was being treated with radium for cervical cancer. Her family relentlessly pursued the truth about how she died, as there were conflicting reasons given; there is a mystery in her medical records that will never be solved, but perhaps speaks to how women’s health issues were dealt with by male MDs.
