War bride tea a celebration of "indominable spirit"

Nancy Kelly

novanewsnow.com

The first snow fall of the season didn’t deter a group of war brides from Kings and Annapolis County from coming together to share their memories of the transatlantic voyages that brought them to new lives in Canada.

At a Dec. 5 tea hosted in Kingston by Annapolis East and Kings West MLAs Stephen McNeil and Leo Glavine, warbrides recounted tales of settling into life in Canada in the 1940s. In the years after the end of World War II, nearly 22,000 young women followed Canadian servicemen husbands back to Canada. As a follow up to 2005’s Year of the Veteran, 2006 was recognized as the Year of the Warbride.

Like similar events held throughout the province, the Kingston tea was a way for Glavine and McNeil to offer their thanks. "While some of this generation of women have now passed away, we still felt it was important to recognize the role they played in building Canadian and Nova Scotian families," explained Glavine, who was pleased with the turnout of 70 people at the event. “These ladies and their families showed the same indominable spirit today, getting here inspite of the snowy and icy roads, as they did when they left everything they knew behind to settle in a new country,“ added Glavine.

All war brides attending the tea were presented with certificates of recognition and copies of resolutions entered by McNeil and Glavine during the recent sitting of the Legislature.