LAMOTHE, Marie Elizabeth Rita
Age at Death: 24
Rank Leading Aircraftwoman
Unit Royal Canadian Air Force Women’s Division
Service Number W309845
Place of Burial Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Sault Ste. Marie ON
Date of Birth 1920.05.14
Place of Birth Thessalon ON
Enlistment January 25, 1943, Sault Ste. Marie ON
Date of Death 1944.09.15
Daughter of Fred and Ephreme Lamothe, of Sault Ste. Marie
LAW Lamothe, known by her middle name Rita, grew up in a Catholic francophone family in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, with two brothers and three sisters. A student nurse at the time of enlistment, she hoped to serve as a hospital assistant or clerk. Her evaluation states, “Smart appearance, vivacious, good conversationalist...sincere desire to serve. Appears to be very capable, responsible and intelligent...should make an excellent hospital assistant.” She was taken on in this role at No 1 TC HQ, Toronto in January 1944.
In August of that year, Rita was admitted to hospital and evaluated by a Dr. Cain. His notes state that a month earlier, she had attended a party where she drank some beer, and “while in this condition, a man employed with Toronto Daily Star had sexual intercourse with her.” When she missed her next period, she feared she was pregnant and visited a woman in Kitchener to terminate the pregnancy. Now feverish and complaining of abdominal pain, she was given a blood transfusion and penicillin. Her condition continued to worsen and she died on September 15. Her diagnosis: “General Peritonitis due to infected criminal abortion.”
