Home > Volunteer Aid Detachments (VADs)
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| Click image for larger view. A Red Cross Poster from Wartime |
| Click here for a complete list of the 94 Red Cross Escort Officers who worked with the Canadian War Brides between 1945 and 1947. |
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| Click image for larger view. Kay Ruddick in her Red Cross Uniform, 1946. |
| Click here to read Kay Ruddick's amazing story of her work with the Canadian War Brides as a Red Cross Escort Officer. |
(Click here to read Kay Ruddick's amazing story of her work with the Canadian War Brides as a Red Cross Escort Officer.)
Volunteer Aid Detachments (VADs) like the Canadian Red Cross and the Salvation Army provided thousands of hours of assistance in transporting the War Brides to Canada.
No other organization did as much work, and served as many hours working with the War Brides than the Canadian Red Cross Escort Officers. Of these, 96 "E/Os" worked with the War Brides in Hostels and on War Bride Ships crossing the Atlantic.
From working in War Bride Hostels to Escort Duty on trains in Britain and Canada, on War Bride Ships in the Netherlands, Britain and Canada, the VADs who helped bring the War Brides to Canada did a remarkable job. Whether it was making beds for upwards of 1000 Brides and children, or changing diapers and handing out baby bottles, no job was too big, or too small, for the VADs.
Kay Ruddick of Moncton, New Brunswick, was one of 641 Escort Officers who served in Britain and Europe during and after the Second World War. This is her story, brought to life with the help of her detailed diary in which she recorded her daily activities between February and November, 1946. During her ten month tour of duty, Kay crossed the Atlantic 15 times on War Bride Ships from the Lady Rodney and the Aquitania, to the Queen Mary. Her leather bound diary is one of the few testimonials we have of the Escort Officer experience and Kay has since wisely deposited a copy of the diary in the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick and the New Brunswick Nurses Museum.
The following article was written by Melynda Jarratt and originally appeared in the Moncton Times and Transcript in April, 1996.
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