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THE HURON EXPOSITOR, July 19, 1995-3
Local war brides had whirlwind romances
BY TIM CUMMING
Expositor Editor
During the Second World
War the world became a
sataller place.
Young Canal men, look-
ing dapper in their Khaki mili-
tary uniforms, lett the familiar
surroundings of home and went
overseas.
When they arrived some of
these soldiers caught the eyes
of young women in Europe.
Some were French and others
were Dutch brit most were
from the United Kingdom.
These women, charmed by the
handsome servicemen, took a
leap of faith and agreed to
marry' their Canadian soldier
'boys and come to Canada.
For many of these war -born
couples, the. wedding followed
a whirlwind romance and the
soldier soon returned to battle.
Sometimes, the marriage was
preceded by months or years
corresponding to the soldier
and his family.
Some women were promised
the moon by their new hus-
bands and came to Canada
only to find the streets not
paved with gold. Most of the
women, however, came to
Canada and carved out a home
with their husbands in the new
country.
During World War II some
Huron County soldiers returned
home and were soon followed
by their new wives. In some
cases, the marriages didn't
stand the test of time. In most
cases, however, the ;Canadian
men and their English brides
Veteran
BY FRANK SILLS
This has been a great year of
celebrating what happened 50
years ago in relation to World
War II. One subject that has
been touched on but not fully
discussed was that of the diffi-
culties often run into with a big
organization where you arc just
a statistic - 1 mean wartime
marriages! I am not out to
criticize the powers that be,
because I think:they did a good
job in spite of the fact they
were trying to conduct a war
on a large scale.- This extra job
was enormous when you con-
sider the number of brides on
• ,the home front and the great
number of brides from the
U.K., Holland, France, Italy
and many other places. These
brides from overseas all had to
he transported and an' attempt
had. to be made to have some
co-ordination with their hus-
bands.
My marriage was a wartime
one and I have a two -fold
purpose for telling it to you.
One, I wish to congratulate all
these brides from other coun-
tries, who more or less, stepped
willingly into the unknown to
come out here to Canada. Most
of them only had the word of
their husbands to visualize
what was in store for them. It
wasn't always the truth but
they wet: willing to trust them.
Before I came home I
remember the story that one
fellow told his wife -to -be that
he had a gopher ranch at the
comer of Bloor and Yongc in
Toronto. That sounds pretty
silly to us that live it Canada
but to someone who knew
Canada as a big blob of red on
the map it could have sounded
as quite pojble. While this
.sort of thing probably took
place I am quite sure that it
was not the norm.. In our own
town we have had many war -
brides who have adopted them-
selves and been a great credit
to our country as well as to
their former country. It took a
lot of intestinal fortitude to do
what they did.
My second purpose for writ-
ing and telling the story of my
wife Dinah and myself is to
mention some of the diffi-
culties that befell practically all
overseas wartime marriages
and at the same timc give an
account to my own fairly large
family of six children - some
of whom may know something
but not all.
It started when Royal Naval
personnel (Wrens) began
coming to our all-male radar
station in Northern Ireland. The
men who were already trained
and experienced began to be
shipped overseas from the U.K.
and the Wrens and the
W.A.A.Fs who were capable
operators took their place. I
would help with the operating
but my main job was keeping
the equipment going. Naturally,
I had noticed Dinah and more
and more liked what I saw and
even persuaded the Watch
Sergeant (we operated on a 24
Cleave and Peg Coombs have been married for 54 years.
They met during World War II. She was from England. He
was a Canadian serviceman from Seaforth.
had enduring marriages in their
new homes.
In the Seaforth area there
have been many couples who
met overseas during the war.
They included the Bannons, the
Beauties, the Adamses, the
Frees, the Dennises, the Sills',
the Friends and others.
SPEEDY ROMANCES
War -time romances were
often whirl -wind affairs.
Cleave and Marguerite 'Peg'
Coombs, of Seaforth, met in
England on Feb. 19, 1941
when Cleave was celebrating
his birthday. Peg, who was 20
at the time, was helping to
serve refreshments at a hall
where Saturday night dances
were held.
"He asked me to dance and I
did," Peg remembers.
Even when Peg and Cleave
were not together, she .remem-
bers receiving a letter from her
man -in uniform every day.
They were engaged on March
3 and married on June 7, 1941.
They have since celebrated 54
years of marriage.
Today, after more than 50
years of marriage, the couple
still holds hands while sitting
on the couch watching televi-
sion.
"We didn't do too bad," says
Peg with a smile.
The Seaforth couple has a
son and three grandchildren.
Barbara Scott, of Seaforth,
met her husband (the late
Gordon Scott) in England.
They met when Barbara was
on holiday with a friend at a
beach:She was 18 years old.
Gordon and his buddies were
throwing pebbles when one
accidentally hit Barbara.
"He came down to apologize
and that was it!" Barbara
remembers.
Barbara and Gordon had met
in August of 1945, . were
engaged in November of 1945
and were married on January
26, 1946.
They went on to have five
sons, two daughters and 13
grandchildren.
Barbara's husband, Gordon,
passed away about four years
ago.
Her mother-in-law had also
been a war bride in the First
World War.
ARRIVING IN CANADA
Thousands of young brides
from England arrived in Hali-
fax by ship and boarded trains
for Toronto. On the front of
one of those trains, carrying
about 400 young women, was
a sign reading, 'English War
Brides.'
Barbara Scott, who lived in '
South Wales, arrived in Canada
in August of 1946 on the
Acquitania.
Marguerite- 'Peg' Coombs
arrived in Canada on the Ile de
France in April of 1946.
Cleave Coombs remembers
waiting in Canada for nine
months for Peg to arrive in
Canada. Finally, he contacted
the MP of the time and she
arrived in a matter of weeks.
Many of the young girls
made lasting acquaintances
with the strangers who shared
their journey.
EXPECTATIONS
AND REALITY
Many war brides arrived in
Canada to find the country
didn't match their dreams or
their husbands' sales pitch.
One Canadian soldier told his
English fiancrSe he owned a
recalls wartime w
•
Frank and Dinah Sills are shown in this photo.
hour, three watch system of
tight hours each) to put me on
the same watch as here. We
started going out together in
the same groups and I remem-
ber once when 1 going on leave
I told her that I was going
through her home vicinity of
York and would she like me to
give her regards to her mother
and father. She said that would
be fine so I called around,
spoke to them, had tea together
and the next time they saw me
was about two years later when
I was on their door step to get
married. 1 must say, however,
in the latter part of that time I
wrote quite a number of letters
to them and I felt we were
friends.
The airforce sent me from
that station to another farther
inland to get experience on
other equipment. It was a
larger station and completely
male. Any time there was a
break for me, I hitchhiked or
took a bus to see Dinah at the
old station. This went on for a
couple o: months until an
overseas posting came through
for me.
Over to Blackpool England
and outfitted with battle dress
and desert equipment. No idea
of destination, Africa or India
but it turned out to be the
former. Then aboard a troop-
ship, . the Duchess of Rich-
mond, into the Atlantic going
south for a couple of days,
sharp left and back up along
the west coast of Africa.
Slipped through the straits of
Gibraltar and nicely got into
the Mediterranean when we
were met by Jerry planes carry-
ing aerial torpedoes. Two near
misses that shook us but no
damage. However they did
manage to hit and sink the ship
behind us that carried many
Polish soldiers. Many were
rescued by the destroyers. It
was a rule that troopships were
not to stop for rescue work, but
leave it for the destroyers and
cruisers who were more able to
defend themselves and not
endanger so many other per-
sonnel.
Landed in Philipville and put
on a train for a four-day three -
night trip in a World War I
French Cattle car over the
Atlas mountains, 25 to a car
with just enough space. to lay
down. We finally arrived at an
old French Foreign Legion post
not far from Algiers.
The African Campaign was
just winding down and the
Sicily campaign hadn't begun.
After a few weeks over to Italy
in charge of 20 men on a Com-
mando boat to join a newly
formed Mobile Signals and
Servicing Unit and the start of
an interesting time up the west
coast of Italy.
In the meantime Dinah had
been moved from Ireland to a
naval base in the south of
England near Somerton. We
had had an understanding about
marriage before we parted and
there were a few pitfalls we
had to navigate. To begin with,
she was Protestant and I was
Catholic so we had to bridge
that. For a mixed marriage it
was always advisable that the
Protestant take some instruction
in the Catholic faith to see if
they have any particular objec-
tions, Dinah did this and didn't
find anything objectionable so
that was one hurdle behind us.
We carried on a terrific cor-
respondence and 1 particularly
remember that Dinah's letters
were always cheerful and full
of encouragement. No com-
plaining about wartime condi-
tions but taking it all in stride
A
edding
with good humour. This was a
characteristic .that she carried
through right to her death from
cancer in 1979. A very brave
little girl.
Our unit was connected to
the . American 5th Army
through the American 64th
Fighter Wing so we followed
their fortunes. Naples, Monte
Casino, two trips up to the
Anzio Beachhead, the capture
of Rome and up as far as
Spenia (Leghorn). In the midst
of this I had a grandstand seat,
sitting up all night on a hill
north of Rome watching the
eruption of Vesvius. It was a
magnificent sight.
Next I was down to Naples
and over to Corsica to join the
invasion fleet into Southem
France near St. Tropez. Excit-
ing time. In a couple of months
back to Italy through a bad
storm riding in the tank deck
of anL.S.T. ship. Although the
trucks were lashed down they
swayed all over so much I
figured that I'd soon be
see God, page 12
lumber et�pany in Canada.
When the bride arrived she
discovered her soldier owned a
tar -papered shack and a wood
piles,
Some of the local brides say
they weren't led quite so
astray.
Barbara Scott said her hus-
band Gordon gave her an accu-
rate impression of Canada.
"Everything he told me was
right except the mosquitos,"
she said. "They were bigger
than I'd thought they would
be,
Canada didn't frighten off
Peg Coombs although she
wasn't happy when she went to
fetch water from a pump and
saw two snakes there.
For Barbara Scott and Peg
Coombs there were two factors
which made coming to Canada
easier.
"If the people in Seaforth
weren't as friendly as they
were it would have been more
difficult," said Barbara Scott.
"If our husbands hadn't been
such good people it would have
been more difficult,"
The Royal Canadian Legion
was also an important part of
their lives when they came to
Canada.
Barbara and Peg said . they
worked hard at becoming part
of Canada.
"We're proud of our English
heritage but we're Canadians,"
said Barbara.
A memory the two women
share of coming to Seaforth is
having a banana split at Crich's
restaurant as soon as they got
to town. •
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THE CONFIDENT CHOICE
Seaforth & District Homecoming
PARADE COMMITTEE
WE HAVE A LARGE
VARIETY OF ENTRIES. ANTIQUE
TRACTORS, CARS, FARM
EQUIPMENT, FAMILY FLOATS,
COMMERCIAL FLOATS AND
MANY MORE...
Seaforth & District Homecoming Para f e
Sunday, August 6, 1995
Theme: "Then .& Now"
No Entry Fee
All entries will be recognized
We will confirm your entry and give you full details concerning the
registration time and your entry # prior to the parade.
Line up time 12:45 p.m. Start Time 2:00 p.m.
LYLE J. HANEY . BOB CAMPBELL ROSS RIBEY
519-522-1300 519-527-0675 519-527-1390
We encourage you got to throw any candy, balloons, etc. from the floats.
Please return to:
Seaforth and District Homecoming Parade Committee
General Delivery,
Seaforth, Ontario NOK '1WO
PLEASE PROVIDE US WITH THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION
CONCERNING YOUR ENTRY IN THE PARADE
35g Jal
1. Group or Organization
2. Contact y' Phone
3. Does your entry have mode? Yea Q No
4. b your entry motorized? Yes Q . No Q
5. Does your entry have horses? Yea Q No Q
6. Approximate Iengtb of entry
7. Other type of float?
4