The Telegram (St. John's)
News, Sunday, May 8, 2005, p. A1
VE-Day
War brides recall victory
Dooley, Danette
During the war years, a teenage Barbara (Micklethwaite) Barrett learned very quickly that the best place to be when the bombs came was outdoors rather than in hiding.
"I had a little brother who was 15 years younger than me. My mother and he used to go down into the cellar when the air-raid warning came on. The first one we had, the three of us went down. My father was away at the time. When I was down there, I never felt so vulnerable. And I said to myself, 'I'm never going to do this again! I am never going to have a house fall on top of me.' So I went out and joined the air-raid wardens so I could be on the street."
Barrett's volunteer job as an air-raid warden in her hometown of Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England, was to escort the disabled to air-raid shelters. She was 18 years old at the time.
PROPOSALS AND PEACE
Amid the turmoil and horror of the Second World War, some servicemen met their brides
"I checked other people's gas masks to make sure they were all working. And when the sirens went off, I knew where the deaf people and the blind people were and I'd take them to get them into the air-raid shelters. It wasn't easy leading a blind person down into a shelter during an air-raid, because they were all underground and they had steps leading down to them."
In order to know when the air raids were about to begin, the air-raid wardens went to bed with a Ripley box.
"It was a little black box, and when the German air force came over the coast, depending on where you were - which was 20 miles for me - the Ripley would ring. And if you had the box, you knew you had to get up and contact the main office to let them know that you were up and that you were doing your job."
During the war, Barbara met and married a young Newfoundland flight lieutenant. Arthur Barrett was with the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) at the time.
Arthur's mother was a war bride from the First World War. His war-veteran father was a Newfoundland newspaper publisher.
In addition to his service with the RCAF, Arthur also served with the merchant navy. Two of Arthur's three years with the RCAF were spent on the bomber base at Tholthorpe in Northern Yorkshire, England.
Arthur and Barbara married in the United Kingdom in 1944 and, like thousands of other war brides, Barbara followed her husband to his homeland after the war, bringing with her their baby daughter, Helena. Their son, John, was born in Gander about 10 years later.
According to Immigration Canada, as the Second World War drew to a close in Europe, some 48,000 women and 22,000 infants from Britain and the continent immigrated to Canada. Their arrival marked the single largest wave of immigration since the Great Depression. Like Barbara, these women broke ties with their families in search of a new life in this country.
When settled in Newfoundland, Barbara Barrett began writing columns for The Western Star newspaper. The columns, which included news from home, helped lift the spirits and ease the homesickness of hundreds of war brides.
Barrett brought with her to Newfoundland her enthusiasm and talent for the theatre. Often dubbed "the mother of theatre" in this province, she has directed, adjudicated and assisted in the production of well over 1,000 performances.
She also co-edited We Came From Over the Sea, a book published by ESP Press in Portugal Cove-St. Philip's, about the lives of the war brides.
For her contribution to the province's arts community, Barbara Barrett was awarded this country's highest civilian honour in 1995 when she was made a member of the Order of Canada.
Among her accolades are the Defence of Britain medal as well as the Girl Guides of Canada Order of Merit.
When asked what attracted him to the young English gal, Arthur picks up a colour picture of Barbara taken during the war years. She is strikingly beautiful.
"And this is what attracted me to him," Barbara says with a smile, passing along a black-and-white photo of a handsome, neatly trimmed, mustachioed young man in uniform, also taken during the war.
May 8 commemorates the 60th anniversary of Victory Day in Europe, more commonly known as VE-Day. Like all war veterans, Arthur remembers vividly where he was when he first heard news that the war had ended.
"The day before the war ended, I was over in Barbara's hometown visiting. When I was coming back on the train and got off at the station, I bought a paper. The headline was, 'The War is Over!' That was the day before it actually happened. But I went and spread the news. So we had two days of celebrations.
Ron O'Keefe's wife, Barbara (Gillett), is also a war bride. Born in London, England, she came to Newfoundland on the same boat Arthur Barrett's wife Barbara arrived on.
O'Keefe was among the first 200 Newfoundlanders to head to war, serving with the Royal Navy and landing in Liverpool on Dec. 15, 1939.
Now living in Stephenville Crossing, he says it was Sir Winston Churchill's request that the troops come from Newfoundland because of their strength on and comfort with the sea. Out of these 200, he says, there are less than half a dozen men still living, he says.
"We did no training, the first 200. They were waiting for ... men to man small boats for contraband control aboard ships. They split us up and put crews of about 50 on each ship. I went to the Worcester, the first one. She was a big merchant marine ship, an armed cruiser. They put five or six guns on her and turned her into a warship. We went out and we stopped all the ships that we passed and we searched them."
Ron also worked laying mines in the ship's lanes while serving on one of the fastest boats in the fleet - the Manxman.
"We'd lay the mines and then we'd take off without an escort. Our fleet knew where the mines were, but that's all."
Ron's two brothers also served during the war.
Ralph joined the RCAF. His plane was hit during its first flight over Germany. His body is buried in England along with his crew. Another brother, Gerry, served with the 166th Royal Newfoundland Regiment. He was injured badly during the war, but returned to his family in Newfoundland.
"I was the luckiest," Ron says.
Ron was on duty in Norway sinking German submarines when word reached the ship of the defeat of the German army in Europe to end the war.
"We heard it on the ship, but we never got back to land in England till about a week after. Pride and joy - that's how we felt when we heard it was all over."
Like the Barretts, the O'Keefes have been married for more than 60 years.
Barbara O'Keefe is working to have the British Empire recognize the contribution of her husband and the other 199 Newfoundland men to sign up first and who stayed for the long haul.
"They served the British Empire longer than any other men from any other Commonwealth country in any other war that the British Empire ever had. I mean, that's a mouthful now, isn't it?" she says.
On her 17th birthday, Barbara met the young sailor she would marry. By then, her parents' home in what was known as Bomb Alley had been destroyed, and she'd gone to live with her aunt.
"One time, we never slept in our bedrooms for 10 months. We were in our raid shelter in the garden every single night. Night after night, you knew they were coming."
Barbara's aunt owned a pub that sailors frequented at the time. It was the unusual accent of the young sailor that first caught her attention.
"I met Ron in 1943 and we were married in January 1944, three months later. ... When he was in the pub first, I heard him speaking and I said, 'Where do you come from? Are you Canadian?' When he said no, I said, 'Well you're not an American. So where do you come from?' He said, 'I'm a Newfoundlander.' And I said, 'Well, what's that to a Canadian?' I showed me ignorance right away," Barbara says with a laugh, her English accent lacing every word.
While her parents weren't pleased when she told them she was taking her baby and joining his father in Newfoundland, she says, the way of thinking was different during the war years.
"You didn't know if you were going to live the next day."
Nor is there any guarantee how much life lies ahead, she says.
"There are only a few of them (the first 200 Newfoundlanders to go to war) left. And there has to be a last one. I don't wish the others any harm. But I'm praying to God that it will be (Ron)," she says.
Figures:
Dooley, Danette
Arthur and Barbara Barrett at their home in St. John's
Flight Lieut. Arthur Barrett during the Second World War.
Barbara Barrett during the Second World War.
Ron O'Keefe was among the first 200 Newfoundlanders to sign up for service during the Second World War.
Ron O'Keefe
