In 1939 the lives of five women are about to collide in the sleepy little village of Crowmarsh Priors.Evangeline has eloped from New Orleans with a naval captain, Alice is resigned to life as the parish spinster, Elsie is evacuated from the East End to be a maid for Lady Marchmont, Tanni has fled from Vienna with her newborn son, and high-spirited Frances is to see out the war with her godmother. Together these five women face hardship, passion and danger, and form a bond that sees them through their darkest hours, and lasts for the rest of their lives.
Following the end of World War II, 500,000 American troops occupied every prefecture of Japan and interracial marriages occurred. The sudden influx of 50,000 Japanese war brides during 1946-1965 created social tension in the United States, while opening up one of the country's largest cross-cultural integrations. This book reveals the stories of 19 Japanese war brides whose assimilation into American culture forever influenced future generations, depicting love, strength, and perseverance in the face of incredible odds. The Japanese war brides hold a unique place in American history and have been called ambassadors to the United States. For the first time in English these women share their triumphs, sorrows, successes, and identity in a time when their own future was tainted by social segregation. This oral history focuses mainly on women's lives in the period following World War II and the occupation of Japan. It illuminates the cultural expectations, the situations brought about by the war, and effects of the occupation, and also include quotes from various war brides regarding this time. Chapter interviews are set up in chronological fashion and laid out in the following format: introduction of the war bride, how she met her husband, her initial travels to America, and life thereafter. Where needed, explanations, translations, and background history with references are provided.
For readers enchanted by the bestsellers The Astronaut Wives Club, The Girls of Atomic City, and Summer at Tiffany’s, an absorbing tale of romance and resilience—the true story of four British women who crossed the Atlantic for love, coming to America at the end of World War II to make a new life with the American servicemen they married. The “friendly invasion” of Britain by over a million American G.I.s bewitched a generation of young women deprived of male company during the Second World War. With their exotic accents, smart uniforms, and aura of Hollywood glamour, the G.I.s easily conquered their hearts, leaving British boys fighting abroad green with envy. But for girls like Sylvia, Margaret, Gwendolyn, and even the skeptical Rae, American soldiers offered something even more tantalizing than chocolate, chewing gum, and nylon stockings: an escape route from Blitz-ravaged Britain, an opportunity for a new life in affluent, modern America. Through the stories of these four women, G.I. Brides illuminates the experiences of war brides who found themselves in a foreign culture thousands of miles away from family and friends, with men they hardly knew. Some struggled with the isolation of life in rural America, or found their soldier less than heroic in civilian life. But most persevered, determined to turn their wartime romance into a lifelong love affair, and prove to those back home that a Hollywood ending of their own was possible. G.I. Brides includes an eight-pages insert that features 45-black-and-white photos.
For thousands of young British girls, the influx of Canadian soldiers conscripted to Britain during the Second World War meant throngs of handsome young men. The result was over 48,000 marriages to Canadian soldiers alone, and a mass emigration of British women to North America and around the world in the 1940’s. For many brides, the decision to leave their family and home to move to a country thousands of miles away with a man they hardly knew brought forth ensuing happiness. For others, the outcome was much different, and the darker side of the story reveals the infidelity, domestic violence, poverty, alcoholism and divorce that many lived through. War Brides draws on original archival documents, personal correspondence, and key first hand accounts to tell the amazing story of the War Brides in their own words-and shows the love, passion, tragedy and spirit of adventure of thousand of British women.
Gwendoline Cramer was one of the 48,000 war brides transported to Canada by the Canadian government between 1942 and 1947. Many of them were escorted across the water and handed over to their husbands with nothing more than a handsake and a cookbook. Following her heart to rural Saskatchewan, Gwen felt like a fish out of water. She couldn't milk a cow or cook with a wood stove. And then she had the in-laws to contend with...
Nestled on the British Columbia coast, the community of Powell River sent several Canadian men and women overseas to fight in the World War II. When all was said and done, more than forty war bride families made their home in Powell River and the nearby town of Stillwater. War Brides and Rosies compiles these families amazing stories and artfully captures the history of Powell River and Stillwater, British Columbia, during World War II. Barbara Ann Lambert recounts how the Powell River Company became a major player in war production as local girls became Rosies of the north, assembling planes for Boeing of Canada as well as running the largest pulp and paper mill in western Canada. Through their monthly newsletter, the company also became a social network. It included correspondence from Powell Rivers service men and women stationed around the world and news on overseas marriages. Using this resource, as well as accounts from war brides and their families, Lambert shows how these women influenced the communities and helped change the perspective of womens roles in Canadian society. Full of vivid detail, War Brides and Rosies is an important contribution to the local history of these Canadian communities.
Merriam Press Personal Chronicle PC2 (First Edition, 2014) The story of Rita Kuder, born in eastern Germany in 1922, her early years growing up and her experiences living in Germany during the Nazi period and through World War II. Rita and her family became refugees as the war entered its final weeks, in order to escape the fighting (including the bombing of Dresden) and the advancing Russians. Besides trying to survive the war, there was also the need to find food and shelter, and work. Through tragedy and hardship, Rita and most of her family managed to survive. After the war, Rita is befriended by an American Army major, and eventually they fall in love and marry. She becomes one of many war brides that arrive in this country during the years after the war. Her story continues as she makes a life for herself with her husband and raises three children. Much of her life was a mental, emotional and physical struggle. This is her story. Contents: Chapter 1: Lessons from My Childhood Chapter 2: Lessons from Each Other Chapter 3: Lessons We Never Dreamed Of Learning Chapter 4: The Horrifying Lessons of War Chapter 5: We Learn To Be Refugees Chapter 6: Tragedy Strikes Chapter 7: The Sweet Lessons of Marriage Chapter 8: Family Life Teaches Me Chapter 9: Life Teaches Me Chapter 10: Illness Teaches Me 49 photos 1 map 5 illustrations 7 documents
What is War Bride Women who married military members from other nations during times of war or during military occupations are referred to as war brides. This practice was prevalent during both World War I and World War II. Wars were fought between the United States and other countries. A great number of women were married by Allied servicemen in other countries where they were stationed at the end of the war. These countries included the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, France, Italy, Greece, Germany, Poland, Luxembourg, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Korea, and the Soviet Union. There were other marriages of a similar nature that took place in Korea and Vietnam during the subsequent wars that took place in those countries and involved anti-communist soldiers from the United States. How you will benefit (I) Insights, and validations about the following topics: Chapter 1: War bride Chapter 2: Vietnam veteran Chapter 3: French Indochina Chapter 4: Mail-order bride Chapter 5: First Indochina War Chapter 6: Amerasian Chapter 7: War children Chapter 8: Comfort women Chapter 9: Japanese war crimes Chapter 10: Overseas Vietnamese (II) Answering the public top questions about war bride. Who this book is for Professionals, undergraduate and graduate students, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and those who want to go beyond basic knowledge or information for any kind of War Bride.
INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER The masterful narration of a daughter's decades-long quest to understand her extraordinary mother, who was born in Lenin's Soviet Union, served as a combat soldier in the Red Army, and endured three years of Nazi captivity—but never revealed her darkest secrets. As a child, Roxana Spicer would sometimes wake to the sound of the Red Army choir. She would tip-toe downstairs to find her mother, cigarette in one hand and Black Russian in the other, singing along. Roxana would keep her company, and wonder.... Everyone in their village knew Agnes Spicer was Russian, that she had been a captive of the Nazis. And that was all they knew, because Agnes kept her secrets close: how she managed to escape Germany, what the tattoo on her arm meant, even her real name. Discovering the truth about her beloved, charismatic, volatile mother became Roxana's obsession. Throughout her career as a journalist and documentarian, between investigations across Canada and around the world, she always went home to ask her mother more questions, often while filming. Roxana also took every chance to visit the few places that she did know played a role in her mother's story: Bad Salzuflen, Germany, home to POW slave labourers during the war; notorious concentration camps; and Russia. Under Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and the early years of Putin, she was able to find people, places, and documents that are now—perhaps forever—lost again. The Traitor's Daughter is intimate and exhaustively researched, vividly conversational, and shot through with Agnes Spicer's irrepressible, fiery personality. It is a true labour of love as well as a triumph of blending personal biography with sweeping history.
The wedding night in Manila was full of promise and Dorothy Dore was prepared to give herself completely to the charming American soldier in the blue uniform. Surely, he stood for duty, honor, and country, just as her father had. However, Sergeant K had a dark secret, which came to the light in a brutal honeymoon attack on her. He promised it would never happen again... "Enemy in My Bed: Triumphs of a Military War Bride" is a tribute to foreign war brides, like Dorothy, who have suffered in silence for the sake of loyalty to their vows and fear of being deported. The author believes that women continue to bear the burdens of abuse caused by addictions and mental disorders because no one is willing to speak up and offer a way out. She knows because she lived it; she escaped it, and survived to tell it all. Dorothy Dore Dowlen immigrated to the United States in 1951 and now resides in San Jose, CA. She is a much sought-after speaker for civic and veterans group functions. Dowlen's first book, Enduring What Cannot Be Endured, published by McFarland Co. Inc. in 2001, is the moving memoir of her WWII years as a teenager on the run from the Japanese and as a medical aide in the jungles of Mindanao, Philippines.
