Library celebrates lasting love at Tulip Days

Thursday, May 14 is the date for the annual Tulip Days celebration taking place at the Stayner Fountain Park hosted by the Stayner Garden Club. This date commemorates the liberation of the Netherlands on May 5, 1945 and will feature historical sharing by guest speakers.

But sometimes items tell stories. Here at the Clearview Public Library, we discover the most amazing tales in the most obscure spots. Did you know that wedding dresses were made of parachute silk back in wartime 1940s? Amidst all the wartime destruction and death, love did bloom! In fact, 47,783 Canadian servicemen married while overseas in WWll.

Seventy per cent of these war brides arrived in Canada in 1946 in an immigrant wave that was unprecedented in Canadian History. 43,454 wives and their 20,997 children began arriving at Pier 21 in Halifax in February 1946 – 80 years ago.

Making this journey by ship to a new land, settling in, adapting, raising families and becoming good Canadian citizens was based on a priority passage system sponsored by DND. This included free sea and rail passage from their original homes with a provision of a daily food allowance and free access to medical care on the boats and trains. Operation Daddy resulted in the amazing fact that one Canadian in 30 could claim a War Bride in their family tree back in 2006.

Historical wars have repercussions that reverberate around the war and far into the future. Who knew that a Canadian serviceman (80 per cent Army, 18 per cent RCAF and two per cent Navy) who fell in love, got married and requested a repatriation of their independents (64,451 newcomers) back in the 1940s could change the course of our country’s history today?

The Clearview Public Library will be hosting a booth featuring Clearview Township’s local history at the Tulip Days event and we would love to hear your stories about the war brides who came from the Netherlands to our part of the globe.

Contributed photo: Some wartime wedding dresses were made of parachute silk, demonstrated by Michele McKenzie.