| Contents > Australian WWII War Brides of American Servicemen: Myths, Stereotypes and Realities by Robyn Arrowsmith |
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Australian WWII War Brides of American Servicemen:
Myths, Stereotypes and Realities
It is estimated (Bolton, 1991; Moore, 1981; Potts & Strauss, 1987; Potts & Potts, 1985) that between twelve and fifteen thousand young Australian women married American servicemen, leaving families, friends and all things familiar to follow their hearts to live in the United States.
Contemporary perceptions of women who married American servicemen at this time were often based on myths and stereotypes which saw the ‘GI brides’ as ‘good-time girls’ pursuing sexual pleasure, and as ‘gold-diggers’ who were hungry for money (Lake, 1995; Campbell, 1989). Such ideas related to the sexualised image of women that proliferated during WWII and, according to Kate Darian-Smith (1995, p. 120), it was because of their liaisons with American servicemen in particular that women were perceived as ‘“saboteurs” who spread VD, ignored family duties and encouraged industrial absenteeism’. In this context ‘GI Brides’ were seen to be swept off their feet by ‘glamorous Yanks’ who resembled romantic images of ‘Hollywood heroes’. It was generally thought that these young women married hastily, often as the result of ‘one-night-stands’ or an unwanted pregnancy, before heading off on an adventurous journey to an exciting future in a new land.
This paper challenges the power of these perceptions, drawing on oral testimony from more than 60 Australian war brides living in the United States, to demonstrate the reality of their experiences. In examining these interviews, it is important to be aware of the limitations of this research methodology. Historians (Ashton, P., 1991, p.3; Darian-Smith, 1995; Featherstone, 2005, p.238) acknowledge that individual memories, particularly of the distant past, can be unreliable, distorted, supplemented and influenced by historical memory, shaped over the years by visual media and publications. It is claimed (Featherstone, 2005, p.238) that being able to create, omit and accentuate memories of the past offers opportunity to present an ‘imagined construction’ of the past. As Paul Ashton (1991, p. 5) observes, as with any form of historical evidence recording the past, ‘oral testimony must be interpreted and set in a broader historical context’.
Yet the importance and value of oral history testimony in this study is that it allows the participants to articulate, in their own voices, the ways in which they understood their own experiences as war brides. As young women in their teens and early twenties, they experienced a transition period of ‘growing up’ during the war years; at the same time this was an extraordinary period made unique by the exigencies of wartime, when events were more likely to have a lasting impact and thus be remembered with some clarity and detail. The consistency of responses from this cohort of women is very persuasive and gives a firm measure of credence to their stories.
The mythology of war itself defines clearly gendered divisions within society (Lake, 1995, p.67), where traditional masculine hostility on the battlefield contrasts with the more passive role of feminine domesticity on the home front. In reality, during WWII Australian women were very active in a variety of work, both paid and unpaid, which has been well documented by historians (Darian-Smith, 1996, pp.63-64; Buttsworth, S., 1996, p. 56; Lake 1995, p. 62; Oppenheimer, M., 2002, p.?; Lewis, R., 1984, p. 95-6; Gregory, J., 1996, p. 57; Saunders, K., 1997, p.?).
Also, contrary to popular perceptions at the time and ideas of ‘living for the day’ and ‘seizing pleasure’ (Lake, 1995, p.67) the experiences of the women interviewed in this study suggest that the demands and pressures of wartime, and the difficulties of organising marriage to an American serviceman, created conditions where courtship was protracted and often conducted at a distance that prohibited sexual contact.
Although wartime stereotypes portrayed Australian girls who fraternised with American servicemen as ‘good time girls’, and while there were frequent reports of adolescent girls having sex with soldiers (Darian-Smith, 1995, p.121), young women were on the other hand urged to take their ‘full share in the war effort by either enlisting in the defence forces, undertaking work on the land or in industry, or enrolling as a voluntary worker, and by subscribing to war loans’ (Lake & Holmes, 1995, p.94). Clearly, they were expected as part of their unpaid work and patriotic duty to welcome the troops at dances run by both the Australian and American Red Cross and other organisations, and also to volunteer at clubs and canteens.
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| Contents > Australian WWII War Brides of American Servicemen: Myths, Stereotypes and Realities by Robyn Arrowsmith |