"First came love. Then came marriage. Then came life in a strange new land, and farewell to everything familiar. Most GI war brides wouldn’t have traded it for the world."
Ayako Wakabayashi and Ron Cameron on their wedding day in 1954.
Proximity, Opportunity, and Generosity
A War Bride is when a women marries a soldier, and leaves everything behind, her family, her home.
as many as 50,000 to 100,000 service men wed women from the Far East.
100,000 were British.
150,000 to 200,000 hailed from continental Europe.
16,000 came from Australia and New Zealand.
For some of these brides it was like a breath of fresh air.
some brides experienced prejudice, jealousy and resentment, even within the family. One group of new arrivals was physically attacked on the Melbourne wharf by factory girls enraged that Aussie men, who were in short supply, had chosen foreign wives.
June Beale, later June Fethers, age 17
These young women left home and family behind, to start married life in a faraway land. Many had to face the opposition of parents, in-laws, and sometimes even the army, and they parted with parents whom many never saw again.
One bride's family had to organise her wedding at a day's notice.
Another Bride couldn't buy a wedding dress because clothing was rationed.
WAR BRIDES
"First came love. Then came marriage. Then came life in a strange new land, and farewell to everything familiar. Most GI war brides wouldn’t have traded it for the world."
Proximity, Opportunity, and Generosity
A War Bride is when a women marries a soldier, and leaves everything behind, her family, her home.
- as many as 50,000 to 100,000 service men wed women from the Far East.
- 100,000 were British.
- 150,000 to 200,000 hailed from continental Europe.
- 16,000 came from Australia and New Zealand.
For some of these brides it was like a breath of fresh air.some brides experienced prejudice, jealousy and resentment, even within the family. One group of new arrivals was physically attacked on the Melbourne wharf by factory girls enraged that Aussie men, who were in short supply, had chosen foreign wives.
These young women left home and family behind, to start married life in a faraway land. Many had to face the opposition of parents, in-laws, and sometimes even the army, and they parted with parents whom many never saw again.
One bride's family had to organise her wedding at a day's notice.
Another Bride couldn't buy a wedding dress because clothing was rationed.