Home · On This Day · Feb. 2, 1947
War bride reception centres close
Broadcast Date: Feb. 4, 1947
It was a British invasion. In 1944, Canada's Department of National Defence began what the press dubbed "Operation Daddy" — transporting 45,000 war brides and 21,000 children to new homes in Canada. The Second World War was drawing to a close; these women, who'd married Canadian servicemen in Europe, were reuniting with their husbands. The job took three years and posed many difficulties, but it's finally wrapping up, as heard in this CBC Radio clip.For three years, Red Cross Escort Officers in Canada and overseas worked in the war bride ships, trains, hostels, and reception centers. They fed babies, handed out medication, carried parcels, and made beds for thousands.
By January, 1947, most war brides are in Canada. The last war bride train arrives at Union Station in Toronto at month's end.
Ten days later, on February 2nd, 1947, the Red Cross and the army surrender their war bride responsibilities to Canadian immigration. The last trains complete their cross-country runs; the Red Cross Reception Centres officially close their doors; and hundreds of female Red Cross volunteers return to regular life.
War bride reception centres close
• The Canadian government provided war brides with free sea and rail passage, as well as daily food allowances and free medical care en route.• About 94% of war brides were British. Other nationalities included Dutch, French, Belgian, and Italian. Some 80% married soldiers. Only 2% married sailors.
• The Red Cross Corps was a female-only Voluntary Aid Detachment which assisted the Department of National Defence. At its height, there were 15,000 Corps members.
• During and immediately following the Second World War, the federal government banned Canadian women from travelling overseas. Earning a posting with the Red Cross Corps was one of the few ways women could travel off continent.
• Just under 650 Red Cross volunteers served overseas. To qualify for a Red Cross overseas position, a woman needed first aid and home nursing training, and at least 200 volunteer hours at a hospital.
• Two hundred Red Cross volunteers served at Toronto's Overseas Reception Centre. With each of the 153 war bride train arrivals, 60 aides worked a five-hour shift.
• The Toronto centre saw over 11,000 reunions between brides and their husbands. Canadian war brides on their way to Australia, New Zealand, and Norway also passed through Toronto. So did war widows heading to a new life with in-laws they had never seen.
Photo: National Archives of Canada A136664
War bride reception centres close
Medium: Radio
Program: CBC News Roundup
Broadcast Date: Feb. 4, 1947
Guest(s):
Host: Larry Henderson
Reporter: Bob Kesten
Duration: 2:18
Last updated:
Jan. 27, 2006
Radio
8:14
July 4, 1944
It's two minutes to five in Normandy and CBC Radio's Matthew Halton is counting down the seconds to the Allied attack on Carpiquet.
Topic
Canadian women were not allowed to fight during the Second World War but they did just about everything else. Tens of thousands joined the women's divisions of the Armed Forces. Hundreds of thousands stepped...
An extraordinary event in Canadian history, and a proud one. Canada acquitted itself superbly in its dealings with the War Brides and War Widows.
For nearly all of those women it was a voyage to live in a country they had never seen and about which they knew almost nothing. Many came to a life entirely unlike anything they had known. What all of the War brides and Widows shared was an amazing courage and sense of adventure.
It was not an easy thing for any of them, to leave your native country to live in another never is, but there were many for whom their new lives were especially difficult - inability to adjust to the new culture, desperate loneliness , unwelcoming families or communities, and sometimes the realisation that their dashing Canadian had sold them a bill of goods.
While there certainly were those who weren't able to, or chose not to overcome the difficulties, the vast majority endured, adapted and even triumphed. They left an indelible mark on their families and on their adopted communities and Canada was immeasurably enriched.
I should know, my mother was one of them.
Submitted by: Keith Taylor