By Terrie Todd
SS Duchess of Bedford
The British War Brides who came to Canada found a whole new world waiting for them. Connie Burrill, leaving her husband Henry behind with his unit, took comfort from the other brides aboard the SS Duchess of Bedford. These women began to realize their lives were about to change when the music on board morphed from Vera Lynn to some brand of country music.
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| 1940s British singer Vera Lynn |
When someone declared, “That’s good old Don Messer and his Islanders,” they realized the music was being transmitted from Canada and they were close enough to receive radio signals.
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| A record album cover |
Connie had mixed feelings, going ashore in Halifax. She’d heard that live bands had played to welcome war brides ashore from other ships, but to her disappointment, none appeared. The women found themselves in a large building with rows of desks and tables spaced across the floor. As she sat at one desk, being interviewed, Connie felt warmly welcomed. She was handed an envelope containing free meal tickets for the remainder of her journey, as well as a newspaper clipping in which her husband appeared in uniform. Someone had clearly invested time and effort into making her feel welcome.
The women were given bed and board at a Salvation Army hostel and were thrilled with hot baths and an abundance of food. Imagine two boiled eggs for breakfast after being limited to a ration of one egg per week! Touring the streets of Halifax, the women gaped at all the food in store windows, hardly believing things like bananas and oranges were real.
Saying goodbye to her friends—and her last connection to home—was difficult. A Salvation Army captain escorted Connie to her train for Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, and his kindness helped alleviate her nerves about meeting her husband’s family without him.
In Yarmouth, Connie began to realize how her wartime experiences back home had affected her. “I would dive under the kitchen table from pure reflexes in heavy thunder and lightning storms,” she said. To her, it sounded like gunfire and bombs. One funny thought that struck her as she walked down a street was how everybody “spoke Canadian—even the children!” Though she laughed at her own foolishness, she longed to hear another English accent.
Connie’s husband arrived home three months after Connie. Although the transition wasn’t easy, Connie adopted the biblical attitude of “Your people shall be my people.” It served her well and, though she never forgot her English heritage, she enjoyed living in Canada as a Canadian citizen.
Sources:
Promise You’ll Take Care of My Daughter: The Remarkable War Brides of World War II, by Ben Wicks, Stoddart Publishing, Toronto 1993
One secret. Three sisters. One is desperate to discover the truth. One wishes the truth would simply go away. And one would give her life to keep the truth hidden forever.
“I couldn’t stop turning the pages of this compelling story! … With God’s help, good can come from evil, and that lesson is beautifully shown in April’s Promise. I recommend this story for lovers of Christian fiction and compelling stories.”
-Jeanne, Goodreads
April’s Promise won the 2024 Word Award and was a finalist in the 2024 Carol Awards.
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