Elsie was born July 18, 1921, in Hawkesbury, ON, to Kitty and Howard Crooks.

She enlisted in the Canadian Women’s Army Corps (CWAC) on January 2^nd, 1942, and trained at St. Anne de Bellevue, QC. Elsie was then posted to Canadian Military HQ in the Sun Life Building in Montreal.

In December 1942, Elsie was posted overseas to London, England. She served for two years at the Canadian Military HQ on Trafalgar Square; in the Records Department, she kept track of Canadian troop movements in Europe.

Elsie lived in a private home with a beautiful marble staircase, converted into barracks, on South Street London, just off Berkeley Square. The Montreal Standard Photonews, dated January 30, 1943, had the full front cover showing Elsie in Trafalgar Square. The caption underneath reads: “Girls now doing office work which releases fit men for combat duties.”

After the invasion, Elsie was posted to France. She crossed the English Channel, landing at one of the portable harbour docks floated over from England. In France, she continued her work at this new Canadian Military HQ set up in a school building. Her group was living in tents located in an apple orchard. They were 8 to 10 women to a tent, sleeping on army cots.

She remembered one night during this time when there was an unidentified aircraft flying around. Many guns were going off, so they all ran into trenches, which happened to be filled with water. It turned out the plane was friendly, so the WACs just ended up getting soaking wet. From France, they were transferred by Canadian army trucks to Antwerp, Belgium. Their offices were located in the same building as their living quarters. They stayed there until a German rocket landed on the building across the street, blowing all the windows out of their own building. It was the closest Elsie ever came to being under live fire. 

From Antwerp, they were transferred to Aalst, Flanders, in Belgium. Their barracks were located in a school building, their office being downtown. From Belgium, Elsie was moved back to the UK where she was posted to Aldershot and then to a further posting back at Canadian Army HQ in London.

From London, it was back to Canada by ship via Halifax, then by train to Montreal to meet her parents. 

Elsie kept working at the Canadian Army HQ in Montreal, being discharged September 26, 1945. She had served three years and nine months for her country.

Following her military discharge, Elsie met and married Rodney Preece. They had one daughter and three sons. The couple moved to L’Orignal in 1978.