SCARTH, Joan Olga
Age at Death: 24
Rank Private
Unit Canadian Women’s Army Corps
Service Number W12185
Place of Burial Regina Cemetery, SK
Date of Birth 1919.04.19
Place of Birth Winnipeg MB
Enlistment May 1942, Winnipeg MB
Date of Death 1943.09.17
Sister of Mrs. J. P. Whelan, of Winnipeg, MB
Born to Polish immigrants, she changed her name to Joan Scarth from Olga Joan Skorodynski. Details of her early life are scarce, but there is evidence that her father may have gone to jail for theft, and she and her sister may have been raised by the Children’s Aid Society of Winnipeg. She had three years’ experience as a nurse in a Winnipeg hospital, including at one point supervising a ward of 45 patients. Prior to enlistment, she worked as a clerk in the Drug Department at the Army and Navy, and she intended to continue nursing and lab work after the war.
While working in the Regina Military Hospital, she fell ill; in August 1942, she was declared medically unfit and sent to the Fort Qu’Appelle Sanatorium. She died a year later of pulmonary tuberculosis.
