War-bride

Encyclopedia : W : WA : WAR : War-bride

War-bride was a term used in reference to World War II era marriages. It referred to a marriage between a soldier and a foreign born woman during the war or immediately afterward. This term was also used to describe American women married during the war years.

When allied servicemen were stationed in Australia and Great Britain, they were (according to the Australians and British) "overpaid", "oversexed" and "over here". They were a hit with Australian and British ladies, nonetheless, and a large number of them were married. When the American sailors in Australia were shipped home, they had to leave their brides in Australia. To solve this problem, the United States Navy chartered a train leaving from Perth, Western Australia so that all the brides could travel to Sydney, where they then boarded a ship and sailed to the United States to be with their husbands. Many British women departed with their husbands to the United States or were later given passage, in a similar manner to the Australia solution. A large number of them, by this time, had given birth.

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