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Lighter side of war

Doris Gregory's How I Won the War for the Allies is a light-hearted look at her experience during the Second World War
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Doris Gregory's book, How I Won the War for the Allies

Doris Gregory spent only a few months in Victoria – and that was some 70 years ago – but it was the first stop in a short, but memorable career in the armed forces during the 1940s.

Gregory’s newly released memoir, How I Won the War for the Allies: One Sassy Canadian Soldier’s Story, is both a fun and fascinating story of her life during the Second World War.

“Nobody’s ever done this, written about the fun times during their life in the Canadian Women’s Service,” said Gregory, now 93, who was trained in typing and shorthand at Work Point in 1942.

“It was very exciting for me. It was a nice way of getting away from home without offending anybody,” she said. “Victoria was the start of a wonderful, exciting adventure.”

Despite the heaviness of the subject (serving in the Second World War), Gregory’s sense of humour and positive spirit come through in her writing, making How I Won the War read more like historical fiction than a fact-based memoir.

How I Won the War for the Allies: One Sassy Canadian Soldier’s Story is available at Munro’s Books and at munrobooks.com.