War bride

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War bride is a term used in reference to wartime marriages, especially - but not exclusively - during World War I and World War II.

Wartime marriages occur in all places where serviceman find themselves. For example, according to The Daily Telegraph, it is estimated that there are "... 15,000 Australian women who married American servicemen based Down Under during World War II and moved to the US to be with their husbands"^[1].

Allied servicemen also married many women in other countries where they were stationed at the end of the war, including France, Germany, Philippines, and Japan. This also occurred in Korea and Vietnam with the later wars in those countries involving U.S. troops.

As many as 100,000 GI war brides were British, 150,000 to 200,000 hailed from continental Europe; and another 16,000 came from Australia and New Zealand (including 1500 from New Zealand) between the years 1942 and 1952.[1] Of these, approximately 44,000 went to Canada accompanied by some 22,000 children. They emigrated mainly in 1946 in specially commissioned 'warbride ships', like the Queen Mary, Leticia, or Mauretania and landed at Pier 21 in Halifax.^[2] A warbride museum now sits on that site at Pier 21.^[3]

In 2008 the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria, B.C., Canada, has as its major exhibit paintings by Calgary artist Bev Tosh.^[4] The exhibit chronicles the warbride experience in Canada and New Zealand via a painting medium.

[edit] References

^ Mitchell, Peter. "Aussie brides reunite", The Daily Telegraph (Australia), 2007-04-26. Retrieved on 2008-04-06.
^ CBC coverage of warbrides - Love and War. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved on 2008-05-13.
^ Pier 21 Museum. Pier 21. Retrieved on 2008-05-13.
^ Royal BC Museum. Retrieved on 2008-05-13.

Love & War: stories of war brides from the Great War to Vietnam by Carol Fallows (ISBN 1863252673)
Michi's memories: the story of a Japanese war bride by Keiko Tamura (ISBN 1740760018)