Home > Pier 21
 |
'Homesick, seasick and lovesick' on CBC's Digital Archives |
 |
| Click for larger picture. Official party on stage at the Dedication Ceremony of the Memorial Plaque, August 26, 2000. Marguerite Turner of the NS War Brides is at left. Photo: Parks Canada. |
During the Second World War and up until March, 1948, 43,454 War Brides and their 20,997 children arrived in Canada at Pier 21 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
The experience of arriving by War Bride ship at Pier 21 and then boarding special War Bride trains bound for communities across Canada is one of the most compelling parts of the War Bride Story.
On August 26, 2000, nearly fifty-five years after the last War Bride arrived at Pier 21, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada dedicated a memorial plaque to the Canadian War Brides in the Heritage Hall of Pier 21.
In a moving ceremony attended by more than 300 wives, their husbands, family and friends, the memorial plaque was unveiled by the Honourable Myra Freeman, the Lt. Governor of Nova Scotia, Sherry Porter, Chairperson Pier 21 Society, and Mrs. Marguerite Turner, the founding President of the Nova Scotia War Brides Association.
Guest speakers included His Worship, Walter Fitzgerald, Mayor of Halifax, Mary Ann McGrath, MLA, Halifax Bedford-Basin, Senator Jane Cordy, representing the Honourable Sheila Copps, Minister of Canadian Heritage, Marguerite Turner of the Nova Scotia War Brides Association, and Melynda Jarratt, War Brides Historian, who spoke on the Historical Significance of the Canadian War Brides.
You can read Ms. Jarratt's remarks that day at the dedication ceremony here .
You can read more about the history of Pier 21 and the Canadian War Brides at the Pier 21 website at http://www.pier21.ca/.
|
 |
