In honour of Remembrance Day, The Reminder is pleased to reprint this article on Flin Flon war brides, which was originally published in June 2006.
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When Joyce Bongfeldt first arrived in Flin Flon six decades ago, she was hardly impressed.
“I got off the train and said, ‘I’m not staying here,’” recalls Bongfeldt with a laugh.
“The place, it was kind of stinky for a start. The smelter smoke was just vile... and usually by July there wasn’t a leaf on the trees or anything. They were all brown or dropped off.”
But Bongfeldt, originally from England, put up with the imperfections. Wedded to a young Canadian soldier during the Second World War, this strange town in this foreign country was to be her home.
And she was far from alone. Some 48,000 European war brides settled with their husbands in post-war Canada, the vast majority from Britain.
Sixty-six of them are said to have come to Flin Flon-Creighton not long after the battlefields fell silent, though at least 20 would move – either to other communities or back home – over the next decade.
For decades now, they’ve played an important, though often overlooked, role, raising families, joining clubs and contributing to the diversity of the community.
That’s why the Legion Ladies Auxiliary, in partnership with the Legion, hosted a special dinner Tuesday evening to commemorate the Flin Flon area’s nine remaining war brides.
“This is the Year of the War Bride (in Manitoba), and we felt that we should do something to honour them,” says Evelyn Meyer, corresponding secretary for the Legion Ladies. “For them to leave their country and come to a new land where everything is strange, they were pretty courageous. We believe they have made our community a better place.”
A prime example of that statement is Ruby McCullough, who married husband Keith back in her native England.
‘Anxious’
“When you’re young, you’re anxious to get here because it is new and it’s a new life,” says McCullough, who came to Flin Flon in 1957 after more than a decade in Kenville, near Swan River. “The hardest part for me was leaving my mother, who had been a widow for just a few years, and saying goodbye to her with my eight-month-old son.”
Audrey Doverspike, originally from Southgate in London, certainly has no regrets about a similar voyage she made all those years ago.
“I like the country, I like the people, I like the fishing. I like everything about Flin Flon,” says Audrey, wife of Gordon.
But could she have ever imagined marrying and going back home with a foreign soldier?
“It was just one of those things, I guess,” says Audrey.
Doreen Harvie, a Brit who worked for the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, certainly wasn’t expecting romance during the war.
“War time is so different. All my teenage years was war,” says Harvie.
Yet something positive came amid what remains the deadliest battle in human history. She met Alexander (Sandy) Harvie when he was best man at her sister’s wedding – to another Canadian soldier.
Though their husbands convinced the war brides to travel thousands of miles to start a new life, not all of their relationships began on good terms.
Asked to describe meeting her future husband, Chester, Bongfeldt breaks out in a hearty laughter.
“You’ll never believe this,” she says. “I was waiting for my friend at a Valentine’s dance... and she walked by with this chap, and I saw he was a Canadian.
“This man came over to me and said, ‘Will you be my Valentine?’ You know what I said? ‘Not bloody likely.’ I had never met this man before in my life.”
Wrote Letters
Things would work out, however, as the two wrote letters back and forth throughout the war.
“He was kind of a persistent fellow,” says Joyce, again with a laugh.
When the Allied forces brought the bloody war to an end, Joyce and Chester came to Manitoba. They soon settled in Flin Flon, where Chester could earn 75 cents an hour at HBMS – good money in those days.
“It’s quite unique to be thousands of miles from home,” comments Bongfeldt.
Unique in part because of the many cultural differences. When she lived in Kenville prior to her arrival in Flin Flon, McCullough was puzzled when she was asked to go curling.
“I didn’t know what it was,” recalls McCullough. “The only curling I knew was curling up in bed.”
Harvie remembers being struck by the unfamiliarities of Canada – everything from the clothes people wore to the social practices.
“It’s a different way of life altogether,” says Harvie.
Despite their contributions to Canada, many war brides remain humble, wondering what all the fuss is about.
Meyer, from the Legion Ladies, found that out when she dropped off roses and Legion key chains to the war brides unable to attend Tuesday’s supper.
“They were very touched,” says Meyer. “In fact, a couple of them had tears in their eyes. They thought it was so kind of us to think of them.”
Surprisingly, Bongfeldt says the war brides never really formed a community of their own within Flin Flon. An attempt was made to start a social club for them, but it fizzled. They simply went about their business, just happy to call Canada home.
“I tell ya, when you think about it, we’re a good group of immigrants,” says Bongfeldt. “Some of our children have been lawyers and doctors and Members of Parliament. Even if you go around this town, there are quite a few people who have War Bride mothers.”
Other local war brides the Legion is aware of are Jean Calder, Lil Genovy, Joan Leafloor, Cory McKay and Elsie Shirran.
“You’ll never believe this. I was waiting for my friend at a Valentine’s dance... and she walked by with this chap, and I saw he was a Canadian.”
