´óÏó´«Ã½

I got married in February 1943. I went back to London to live with my parents when I became pregnant.

My sisters by that time had come back from evacuation, as they were unhappy away from home. There were still lots of bombs.

My husband got sent back to Canada to train men in March1944, because he’d had a kidney operation after getting infection from being in the commandos in Scotland. The v-bombs started once he’d gone. They were scary, because you heard them, and then when the sound stopped you knew they were dropping and you’d hear the explosion soon.

He wrote saying I should come back to Canada as a war bride. My mum was upset, she said ‘I’ll never see you again!’ It was September 1944.

My dad took me to Royal Oak tube station. At Euston we were met by Canadians who were looking after the war brides. I took the train to Liverpool. There were about 150 other war brides going to Canada on my ship, the Mauritania. It was a big liner.

I remember I was changing my baby’s nappy when I looked out of the porthole, and saw Liverpool in the distance.

Four days later there was a storm, and I was seasick. I was in Canada, in Montreal, till 1946.

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.