Veronica Foster – popularly known as Ronnie, the Bren Gun Girl

Veronica Foster – popularly known as Ronnie, the Bren Gun Girl

The stamp depicts Veronica Foster (1922-2000), popularly known as Ronnie, the Bren Gun Girl. She was a Canadian icon representing nearly one million Canadian women who worked in the manufacturing plants during World War II.

Foster worked for John Inglis Co. Ltd producing Bren light machine guns on a production line on Strachan Avenue in Toronto, Ontario. She became popular after a series of propaganda posters were produced; most images featured her working for the war effort, but others depicted more casual settings like Foster dancing the jitterbug or attending a dinner party.

After the war, she worked as a singer with Mart Kenney and His Western Gentlemen, where she met trombonist George Guerrette, whom she subsequently married.