War Bride

War bride is a term used in reference to wartime marriages between soldiers and foreigners, especially–but not exclusively–during World War I and World War II.

One of the largest and best documented war bride phenomenons is American soldiers marrying German "Fräuleins" after World War II. By 1949, over 20,000 German war brides had emigrated into the US. Furthermore, it is estimated that there are "... 15,000 Australian women who married American servicemen based in Australia during World War II and moved to the US to be with their husbands".

Allied servicemen also married many women in other countries where they were stationed at the end of the war, including France, Luxembourg, Philippines, and Japan. This also occurred in Korea and Vietnam with the later wars in those countries involving U.S. troops and other anti-communist soldiers.

As many as 100,000 GI war brides left the United Kingdom, 150,000 to 200,000 hailed from continental Europe, 15,500 from Australia and 1,500 from New Zealand, between the years 1942 and 1952. Of these, approximately 44,000 went to Canada accompanied by some 22,000 children. They emigrated mainly in 1946 in specially commissioned "war bride ships," like the Queen Mary, Leticia, or Mauretania, landing at Pier 21 in Halifax. A war bride museum is currently located on that site at Pier 21.

In 2008 the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria, B.C., Canada, had as its major exhibit paintings by Calgary artist Bev Tosh. The exhibit chronicled the warbride experience in Canada and New Zealand via a painting medium.