Voices of the Left Behind: Project Roots and the Canadian War Children of World War II

After World War II Canada welcomed over 65,000 War Brides of Canadian Armed Services personnel. Many had happy married lives and some did not. We have all heard their stories; sometimes the storytellers were among our own families and friends. But what about the 23,000 women, many of them teenagers, who were not so lucky, who bore children and were abandoned by their (often married or bigamous) lovers when the war was over? The attitude of the Canadian authorities was that illegitimate children of servicemen were not their problem; the soldier was posted elsewhere and requests for financial assistance were denied. This book opens the door on these hidden and tragic stories that were kept out of sight and out of mind for too long. It contains 50 simple narratives, many written by the now aging children themselves about their heart-wrenching experiences growing in a world that all too often despised and mistreated them for being illegitimate, and about their attempts to find their Canadian roots. Many of the war children still search in vain; their fathers are long since dead. The most poignant stories are those of fathers who returned from Canada to marry their sweethearts and were rejected by them. Yet there are happy endings for some children who discovered and were welcomed by half siblings half a world away. There is a nice balance of stories: British children, Dutch and German children, adopted children, children of war brides whose marriages failed, children of Canadian Servicewomen. My one complaint is that the book is too short. Twice as many stories would have made a greater impact. I saw many other, unresolved, stories on the authors' website which unfortunately did not appear here. Have the Kleenix box handy when you read this book.