ROWSELL, Triffie Pearl
Age at Death: 23
Rank Leading Aircraftwoman
Unit Royal Canadian Air Force Women’s Division
Service Number W314385
Place of Burial Moncton Elmwood Cemetery, NB
Date of Birth 1922.05.08
Place of Birth Point Leamington,NL
Enlistment November 15, 1943, St. John’s NL
Date of Death 1945.08.10
Daughter of William George and Rosie Rowsell, of Norris Arm, NL
Triffie grew up in rural Newfoundland with six brothers and two sisters, in addition to two twin sisters who died in infancy. Upon enlistment, she expressed a strong interest in working as a cook, and she attended the School of Cookery in Guelph, Ontario. She struggled with her classes there, receiving a failing grade, but was nonetheless taken on strength with the RCAF. Her commanding officer wrote, “A neat, quick worker. This airwoman’s poor educational background has been a handicap during the course.”
In late July of 1945, she was hospitalized after complaining of severe abdominal pain. After an appendectomy and several blood transfusions, her condition worsened and she stopped breathing on the night of August 10. The cause of death was peritonitis.
The CO of her station wrote in a letter to her mother, “Words cannot express how the entire Station felt over the death of your daughter.” A month later, her mother sent back a letter of thanks. “It will certainly take some time for me to kindle up my spirits as dear Triffie meant so much to me… While she sleeps, I will pray that some day I shall meet her again, never to part no more.”
