PASSANT, Thelma Florence
Age at Death: 29
Rank Corporal
Unit Canadian Women’s Army Corps
Service Number W20488
Place of Burial Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Hamilton ON
Date of Birth 1915.08.11
Place of Birth Boksburg, South Africa
Enlistment November 4, 1942, Toronto ON
Date of Death 1944.09.19
Daughter of Walter Thomas and Ethel Mary Passant, of Burlington
Thelma moved from South Africa to Burlington, Ontario with her family at the age of seven. She had two brothers, one of whom was a Flying Officer in the RCAF and later became a prisoner of war. Her Personnel Selection Record described her as “an intelligent, energetic person with many interests, and a mature attitude.” She was taken on as a switchboard operator, and by the following summer was a Cipher Operator, coding and decoding military correspondence.
In July 1944, she was admitted to hospital, where she was diagnosed with aplastic anemia (a rare and serious blood disorder). Two months later, she died in hospital of a cerebral hemorrhage with her parents by her side.
