Not So Many Disappointed Australian Brides

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 250, 22 October 1945, Page 4

Not So Many Disappointed Australian Brides

MELBOURNE. THEY call them D.W.B.'s in the Australian Legation in Washington, which means Disappointed War Brides, but you would be surprised how few they really are, writes the Washington correspondent of the Melbourne Herald. The legation has not the complete figures to show how many Australian brides of American servicemen have reached the United States, but to September the number was estimated to be 1000. More have arrived since. Fewer than 50 have approached the Legation seeking passage back to Australia. That number is not high, considering the handicaps of international marriage, especially in wartime, when husband and wife cannot be together during the critical first few years of the union. Occasionally one hears stories of the big number of Australian brides who have come to America only to meet disappointment and disillusionment. According to these rumours the Australian girls travel the Pacific buoyed with hopes of a Hollywood sort of existence, partly from their own Jack of knowledge of the country and partly because of the stories told to them by their husbands. There are some such cases, of course, but most of the stories are baseless rumours. No Real Evidence For instance, I tried to track down a persistent story about a girl who married a negro soldier and then found she was expected to live in some shantytown in the Deep Sou.th of America —an ostracised person. Maybe the story is true, but I haven't yet found anyone to substantiate it. Miss Kay Fawkes, who is the Legation's Dorothy Dix for troubled brides, says she, too, has heard the story, but has not seen the girl. Miss Fawkes has an optimistic outlook about the future of most of the Australian-American marriages. She has been impressed by the common sense of most of the girls she has seen and by their willingness to overlook small, irritating details in their determination to make a "go" of their marriages. "Naturally there • are some who find that they cannot get along here, but their number is no higher— probably not as high—as the average percentage of misfits in American homes," Miss Fawkes said. "One of the greatest troubles is that brides have been allowed to come over here without their American husbands, who have still been in the Pacific. This hasn't worked out too well, in some cases, because the girl has had to get to know her in-laws as best she can. Most of the girls who have gone back have done so because of in-law trouble. They just haven't been able to adjust themselves to the new life." "lii-Law" Troubles Miss Fawkes mentioned a couple of cases. In one, the girl had arrived in the depth of a Wyoming winter and found her in-laws rather less than helpful. They had made no attempt to help her, and she found she could not ""stick it." In another case a girl had come to people in a part of New York which was not exactly Park Avenue. Her in-laws had shown a curious antipathy toward her, mainly because they thought their son should have married the girl next door. The poor Australian girl spent one awful night on a wire mattress without bedclothes and then sought the help of the Legation in getting back home.

Miss Fawkes said the Legation was sympathetic towards the girls and helped them in every way possible. Sometimes the American in-laws paid their fares back* Sometimes girls claimed they needed passages home desperately, but at the last minute decided to stay in the United States, having found a position or some other attraction.

But for every case where the marriage has not worked out. Miss Fawkes knows of plenty that seemed most successful. One of the best recommendations the Legation- ever had was from an unknown American woman in North Carolina who telephoned to say that the whole town where she was had been captivated by the Australian bride who had come to live with them. The woman could not speak too highly of the newcomer to the country. Typical <Caises Social club workers in the United States generally have found that the Australian brides are most adaptable to their new surroundings. They attribute this to the many similarities in the Australian and American characters. One ex-Brisbane girl writes from Michigan about her year-old son: "I had him in a baby show here and he took two prizes—one for the most popular baby and one for the healthiest baby." ' A Sydney girl now settled in Florida says: "I've been extremely lucky. 1 hope the other brides could be just as lucky. My in-laws are grand people and everyone has been very kind and helpful." Another Brisbane girl who has settled in Georgia says she has the most marvellous time hunting in the woods there, while the people and the local newspapers have shown the liveliest interest in her country and her welfare. These cases are typical. They show that the brides now arriving here in greater numbers have far more than an even chance of making good in the new surroundings. Many will be able to live with their.husbands again, because discharges from the United States forces have been greatly speeded up in recent months.