McWILLIAM, Margaret Frances
Age at Death: 30
Rank Corporal
Unit Royal Canadian Air Force Women’s Division
Service Number W308848
Place of Burial Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver BC
Date of Birth 1915.02.15
Place of Birth Braddock SK
Enlistment November 25, 1942, Vancouver BC
Date of Death 1945.09.22
Daughter of Frank A. McWilliam and Mary E. McWilliam, of Vancouver
This RCAF Corporal, known by her middle name Frances, worked as a retail sales clerk for 10 years before enlistment, but always had an interest in radio. She took a year-long night course in wireless telegraphy, wanted to work as a wireless operator in her service, and intended to continue her radio studies after the war. She trained at the Wireless School in Montreal and received high marks in her class.
In July of 1945, she complained of a severe headache and dizziness, and suddenly collapsed to the floor. She was admitted to hospital, where her evaluation noted that she spoke slowly and with difficulty. She was placed on the “dangerously ill” list, and three months later, she died in hospital of a subarachnoid haemorrhage.
