RONEY, Lillian Le Verne
Age at Death: 20
Rank Private
Unit Canadian Women’s Army Corps
Service Number W12377
Place of Burial Imperial Cemetery, Imperial SK
Date of Birth 1922.01.17
Place of Birth Imperial SK
Enlistment June 4, 1942, Regina SK
Date of Death 1942.08.14
Daughter of Robert E. Roney and Effie Roney, of Imperial
From the Coroner’s Jury, August 31, 1942: “…a girl of high character and a cheerful disposition. She liked being in the CWAC and she was popular with everybody. She had no money troubles and was on good terms with her family.”
The letter Lillian sent her lost love:
“August 11, 1942, Dearest Orville, Please try not to be too ashamed of me – but to be a weakling is too much for me to adjust. I can’t explain it just as I would like to, I suppose others explain it as insanity – OK – but my love for you, dear, it too much to just sit and hope that there may be a chance some day that we may be together. You’re so far away and the world seems so black. I get worse and worse every day. It’s not fair to the CWAC and to those who believed me to be a more sound person and poor Dad – he’s given me all and more than a girl would want but what’s all that when there is years and perhaps eternity between yourself and your loved one. I know I’ll hurt some, but it will soon be forgotten. If what I do isn’t considered too wicked, I’ll see everyone where there is no heartache and sorrow. Darling, if you knew how I’ve missed you and all the time I never shed a tear. I tried to think of the better days to come. Now, I’ve given in, the poor fool, she was. May God bless you, Orville, and please don’t think too bad of me. Remember me as I was when I was in my good moods – if there were any. Lillian. A picture just to show I could smile.”
The conclusion: “We found that death was suicidal whilst in a state of temporary melancholy.”
Lillian gives us a stark look at the lack of awareness of metal illness there was in the war years, which of course meant absolutely no support for people, like Lillian, who needed it.
