IT's a longer answer than you are probably expecting ....

My Dad was 17 in the Militia (only child whose Mom died when he was 4) when war was declared by Canada on Sept 10, 1939. He lied and said his birthday was Dec 1922, not 1921, when he signed up into the Artillery. My mother was a Londoner who worked for the British "War Department" - a mystery still as to where and what exactly she always said lifetime secrecy oaths. Anyhow, her sweetheart was killed in the Battle of Britain. To my best estimates, they met between Aug 41 & Feb 42 when Dad's LAA battery was providing Anti-Aircraft protection at Gatwick & Redhill, and my Mum was convinced by her brother to attend a dance at the Lyceum Theatre. He proposed 6 weeks later (fast work for a guy whose only girlfriend sent him a Dear John letter before he left Canada!). Despite all the reasons not to, she said yes.

It took them until May 43 to get married, as first he had to confess being under 21 and they had to get his Dad's permission (he was working on the Alaska Highway) in addition to the military's. My Mum forgave him for turnign out to be nearly 4 months her junior. They were to marry spring 42, but Dad as a dispatch rider on a Norton was injured when a parachute bomb exploded where he and a steam roller were at the same intersection. It turned out to be a blessing - although he always had survivor guilt - as his battery was one of those decimated at Dieppe. He did fully recover, however following plastic surgery etc and learned to walk/run again. The Canadians didn't have men for replacements, so if you recovered you returned to your unit, which he did. Mum then had an emergency appendectomy prior to the next wedding date. Finally, they married.

Dad served in NW Europe with the 3LAA as a gunner, signaller, DNR, and then as bodyguard & driver to the Commander 2nd Division Royal Canadian Artillery. Following the war, Dad was demobbed back to Canada in Aug 45, and Mum followed with my brother (b late 44) on the Queen Mary in June of 46. She left an entire close-knit family to be on her own with Dad and eventually their children, as my Dad was the only child born of his generation on his Dad's side, and would not meet his Mother's family until he was about 65. He rejoined the military in Sep 46, joining the RCAF as an adminstrative Non-Com, and they lived in various places in Canada and Europe, where he was part of the 4thATAF....then became a civilian in Saskatchewan at his last posting in the early 60s.

I feel they were courageous, but I can't imagine what it was like for those who said goodbye to their husband in North America to then not see them for nearly 6 years, and in so many cases, never again.

Michelle