My grandmother, Sarah Cooper (Crawford), was a Canadian war bride.  A petite and pretty scottish lassie who met and married a Canadian Navy man while he was stationed in her country and on leave.  

I miss my tiny, effervescent, 'sparky' and incredibly loving grandmother and this show is really in dedication to her.  Very tragically the woman who was so strong and a backbone to our family was taken from us in an automobile accident in 1989.  My grandfather, never quite the same after losing 'the love of his life', succumbed to pancreatic cancer just six years later.  So, this is for them:  Sadie and Ed...this one's for you!

Operation Daddy: Here Come the War Brides!. 

Sarah (or "Sadie" as she was most often called) Crawford was born and raised in Glasgow, was the 2nd eldest in a boisterous family of 9 children, 2 parents and at one time even the grandparents living under one small roof.  The Crawford household, headed by father James, didn't have much in the way of money or belongings, but they were always loyal and tight-knit during good times and bad.  The family always loved music, and many of them sang quite well.  The household 'clan' would often entertain themselves on evenings after the dishes were tidied by singing, tapping out rhythms on various home-made instruments and vocally harmonizing with one another with clear, beautiful tones. 

When war broke out, Sadie worked in a tailors' shop in the downtown area of Glasgow and helped support the family during the rough times that the war brought there.  At night Sadie, her sister Nancy and their girl friends would go to dances.  There were dances nearly every night of the week where they lived during the war and these young girls all loved to dance. 

It was at one dance that she was approached by a handsome young Canadian sailor named Ed "Doc" Cooper.  He was tall, dark, handsome in his Canadian Naval uniform...and (as is very apparent from photos of the time) skinny.  There was a light in his eyes that appealed to Sarah very much.  He was kind, good humoured and very obviously enamoured of her.  They met again at subsequent dances and very soon the two fell in love.  When his ship would get into port, understanding the strict rationing civilian families were subjected to in the U.K. during that time, Doc would often sneak food items off the ship like a few cans of ham, some fruit or--if he was lucky enough--fresh eggs and he'd put them into his bag for Sarah's family, which they were always grateful for.  Sadie married her Canadian in Glasgow in 1945--twice.  The first time in a Records Office before Ed was shipped off, and again when he returned, "properly" this time, she always said, in a Catholic church.  Both times, with fabric rationing in place and wedding gowns a near impossible item to locate, the bride took her vows in a simple but stylish skirt and jacket.  When Ed was repatriated back to Canada with his shipmates towards the end of 1945, he had to leave his wife behind.  And so he went, got himself a job as a mate with a shipping company in Canada and waited for his pregnant young wife to finally arrive so they could live as man and wife.  Sadie stayed on at home with her family in Glasgow for the time being--and with 6 younger siblings being told to keep themselves occupied whilst she gave birth to her first child in the small 2-room cottage.  My mother, Ann McLaughlin Cooper was born in the Crawford home on May 14, 1946. 

A letter came with instructions for Sarah to prepare to join her husband in Canada and in September 1946, both new mother and the four-month old baby were headed to Canada to reunite with a husband she hadn't seen in nearly a year.  And "Daddy" was to meet his daughter for the first time.

Sailing on the Aquitania, Sadie brought along as many personal belongings for her self, the baby, and her new home as her tiny frame could manage.  Quarters were tight, but it never bothered Sadie--she knew that the man she loved and a new life were waiting for in Canada.  The food was amazing to her as she hadn't seen white bread, real butter, lovely cuts of meat and fresh fruit as was regular fare onboard ship since before the war.  Taking care of the baby and sharing a laugh or two with other nervous 'brides' in situations so similar to her own made the time pass quickly. 

Arriving at Pier 21, she and hundreds of young women disembarked from the ship, were processed through customs and immigration, herded towards trains and shuttled across this strange country in one of the many "Diaper Specials"... Arriving at Union Station in Toronto days later, she stepped off the train exhausted from the long journey and spotted a familiar face in the crowd. Beaming at that impossibly skinny sailor with the lop-sided grin as he stood staring at her in his 'civvies', her heart skipped a beat as she smiled, remembering instantly why she'd come.   For him.  She was home at last.  -- Liz Auston