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Archiver > WARBRIDES > 2006-09 > 1159214973


From: "Elizabeth" <>
Subject: [WARBRIDES] War Bride Impact
Date: Mon, 25 Sep 2006 16:09:33 -0400
References: <BAYC1-PASMTP05648AF63E830F602C88D8AB240@CEZ.ICE><003901c6e0c2$3394e0f0$2bc58c48@yourlk4rlmsu41>


Agree, many underestimate the impact of the War Brides on our society, even
they do. Two weeks ago attended a wedding in Canada. The groom was the
American. My family was one of five USA non-relatives who attended. Even
cousins from Scotland came for the event. I was amused by the comments
during the toasts about how the bride was going to "another country" to
live. We were only 5 hours of driving time away from her new home. Had she
married someone from Vancouver, the odds of the family seeing her would have
been greatly reduced. And these comments were from people who originally
were from Scotland!

My thoughts then went to what it was like in the late 40s and early 50s,
when travel wasn't as easy, as quick or as inexpensive as it is today.
There were so many unknowns that the War Brides had. Much of life back then
on this side of the ocean was just unfathomable to people in Europe. For
example, the scale of this land is still not grasped by many. Maps are
sized to fit the paper, creating unreal size relationships.

My mother-in-law often has told me that she never told her family of what
her life was like when she first arrived. As an upper-class city girl, she
believed that they would have been horrified to learn that her running water
was the crick out back, and that her milk came from the goat tied in front
of the two-room log cabin. If she wanted to cook, she first had to gather
the wood and find the eggs. This for a girl who did not learn to cook at
her mother's side. Because of rationing. her mother wouldn't let her touch
anything for fear of waste.

She also had instant family, besides her baby son. Her husband had
previously been married and from that union had a boy and a girl. Together
they produced four boys. Can you imagine, going from the only female
grandchild with eight doting uncles and aunts to being the only female adult
with six children under the age of 10, and in a foreign country?

If nothing else, my mother-in-law is a survivor, as are all the other War
Brides, and our two countries are a lot better because of them. Thank you
all!

Elizabeth Walton Robinson
Daughter-in-law of
Susanne Schuster Robinson Tripp
German War Bride

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