Was your mom or grandmother from Europe and did she marry your dad or granddad right after or during WW2? If so she was a war bride! One of the most unusual emigrations to have ever happened over the years, was the war bride. What made this emigration so unusual was over 40 thousand women left their homes to start a new life. All of the emigrants were women. All of them were of marrying age. In Canada there was a war bride's train, to carry the brides across the nation from the Atlantic to where every they were going to settle. While a large majority were from England, there were lots of war brides from Scotland, Ireland, France, Italy, and Belgium. Stories? There were a ton.

Why would a woman leave everything she knew to go to a different country. Part of the answer lies with the fact that so many men lost their lives in the war. The selection had to be less than it would have been normally. Part of the answer seems to be that Canada was one of the first allied nations to go to war for Britain. So the majority of war brides ended up there in Canada, but they also came to the United States, New Zealand and Australia. All war brides have a common experience. They all met and married a military man from over-seas. The moved far away from their family and often brought all their customs with them from their homeland. And they all made the same trip. There was so much in common with all of these brave ladies, there are several organizations started just by them so they can share their common experiences with each other.

If you would like more information about the War Brides of WWII here are three links you can check on for more information and stories of this wonderful bit of our history. And add your own story if you have one, sharing with others your family history.

http://www.canadianwarbrides.com/intro.html The Canadian War Brides An Introduction
http://pier21.ns.ca/storyw.html Stories Of Pier 21
http://www.tartans.com/articles/warbride.html War brides of Scotland

By Genzi 3.04.2001