RCMP spouses honored for voluntary duties performed at isolated posts
By Contributor
RCMP held a very special awards presentation recently in Kelowna, honoring a specific group of spouses of police officers.
The Unpaid Second Man award was created in 2010, with over 450 RCMP wives from across Canada having received the award to date with 168 of those in BC.
The Southeast District RCMP along with the RCMP Veterans Association held an awards presentation, formally recognizing the role played by the spouses of RCMP police officers, those who with their husband were posted to one or two man RCMP detachments in small isolated communities across Canada.
The Unpaid Second Man award acknowledges the support and voluntary duties that they provided to the RCMP and the communities in which they and their families were posted to.
Throughout the 50’s and up into the 80’s, many of these isolated posts had members living quarters attached to the detachment and as a result many duties fell to the wife while their spouses attended to calls or were absent from the office while out on regular patrols.
Retired Sgt. A. Harold Clark and Mrs. Ruth Lee Knight authored books that described the dedicated efforts of some of these women.
The books titled, The Unpaid Second Man and When the Second Man was a Woman chronicled the hardships, dedication and sacrifices that these women made to support the RCMP and served as the catalyst to these awards.
