All the Way to the USA

Book excerpt: Dr Robyn Arrowsmith is author and publisher of All The Way To The USA: Australian WWII War Brides, which is based on ten years research for her PhD at Macquarie University. Robyn has travelled to America a number of times to meet with some of the remarkable Australian women who fell in love with US servicemen during the urgency and social chaos of WWII. The book chronicles the true and poignant stories of Australian brides and fiancées who embarked on a long journey, leaving family, friends and all things familiar, to follow their hearts to America. Set in an historical context, the War Brides tell their stories for the first time in over six decades. The book highlights the way these women first met their future husbands, their wartime courtships, their weddings, the long wait to sail to America and the sea voyage itself, as well as their reception in a new country. These women bravely displayed commitment, resourcefulness and determination, as they dealt with red tape, chronic homesickness and grief for the families they left behind, while adjusting to different aspects of cultural change and settling in to a new life of wife and mother. There were 15,000 Australian WWII War Brides of American servicemen, but no in depth study has been made until now, and their stories have remained untold. After 60 years, these women have been officially recognised in Washington DC as great ambassadors for good relations between the two countries. These human stories, told in the words of the war brides, add a new dimension to women's history in both Australia and America.