From the archives of the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library:
As World War II raged, Britons found themselves under a large-scale attack by the Nazi air force. Throughout the Battle of Britain and the Blitz, Germans focused their bombing on ports, infrastructure, factories, and eventually civilians. As a result of the extensive bombing, the British government began to evacuate individuals – largely children – to lower-risk areas. Some were relocated to camps within the UK; others were sent overseas, including to Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United States. Over the course of the war, close to 3.75 million people were displaced under the evacuation plans, and many children were separated from their families.
In Canada, governments quickly developed plans to begin accepting British refugees. In July of 1940, the newly formed War Guest Committee held a meeting to present their process for aiding British children in finding safe places to live during the war by temporarily relocating them to Canada. The initiative spanned country-wide and Sault Ste. Marie's representatives had just returned from a meeting in Toronto, where the details were solidified for how it would all play out in Ontario.
Children would be referred to as War Guests as opposed to refugees, in the hopes that this would be a more welcoming term. Upon arriving in Canada, they would be brought to Ontario to be processed, checked for a clean bill of health, and given any outstanding vaccinations.
As Superintendent J.H. Dawson described, there were a number of paths British children could take to Canada. Students in residence schools would travel in groups with their classmates, effectively moving entire boarding schools with their schoolmasters across the Atlantic. Others would be sent to live with family members here. And the third group – the group we most commonly associate with War Guests today – would stay with complete strangers in their homes.
While the committee expected that War Guests would be allocated to larger city centres first, people in Sault Ste. Marie were encouraged to register with the Children’s Aid Society as soon as possible. That way, there would be enough time to arrange a site visit, ensuring applicants were capable of caring for a War Guest and could afford an additional mouth to feed.
Dawson noted that some people locally had already applied and would likely be turned down, as “they would be extending their accommodations to such a degree that the situation would not be suitable.” He added, “We do not want people to be offended when they are not provided with guests because we know that if they had their way they would do their best to look after the children.” In total, over one hundred people would apply to host a child.
By September 1940, the first four War Guests had arrived in Sault Ste. Marie. One ten-year-old girl, a Miss Barbara Spence from York, England, was featured in the Sault Daily Star. She told reporters that she liked it in Sault Ste. Marie, although she was sad to leave home; the newspaper article expressed amazement at how calmly she handled the change in her life and how composed she was.
She described some aspects of living in York. She said that she had to run for shelter nightly due to air raids – or, in some cases, she and her family would just sit around the dining room table and wait in the darkness, listening to the scream of the sirens. When asked about the trip over, she described being escorted by a number of destroyers and a large battleship. When asked if she could confirm one of the rumours – that a ship behind her “carrying refugee children had been torpedoed and that the children sang as they took to the boats” – she would not comment.
She appreciated the inexpensive ice cream available in Canada. However, her biggest criticism? “The vegetables…. They’re terrible. This spinach, for instance, it’s horrible stuff and I just will never get used to it. And vegetable marrow, ugh!”
By December, after several months in Canada, the Sault Daily Star caught up with all four of the War Guests to see how they had adjusted to life in Canada. Mary Minors from Norwich, Raymond and Freda Smith from Durham, and of course Barbara Spence described some of the firsts they had experienced over here: skating, eating corn on the cob, playing American football, celebrating Halloween, and decorating a live Christmas tree. They had to grow accustomed to the sounds of Canadian train whistles, which Mary initially thought “was a cow in distress” and then “Moaning Minnie” – slang for an air raid siren. The children all attended co-ed schools for the first time, and when asked how she liked attending a school with boys, Mary said, “Not bad.”
While they came from different parts of England, their experience as War Guests seemed to unite them as friends. When Freda celebrated her thirteenth birthday, Mary and Barbara both attended.
By June of 1942, the number of War Guests had increased to six. The Sault Daily Star caught up with them again. Some of them had been in Canada for so long, their British accents had all but faded. They talked again about the differences between British and Canadian culture, talked about how their school was going, and shared details about new hobbies they tried. One War Guest, Raymond Smith, shared information about his romantic escapades. Starting his comment with a drawn-out “We-e-l-l-l—,” he went on to describe how he’d had a girlfriend but found that buying gifts for her was too big a drain on his wallet. “I became a bachelor about Christmas time.”
By Christmas of 1944, there were seven War Guests living locally. For some, it was their fifth Canadian Christmas, and they expressed enjoying the holiday fun. Six of them said they planned to move to Canada permanently as adults, citing kind people, the beautiful scenery, the fun schools, and the “more modern” society. Most would return to England first, although one would opt to move up north and work in the forestry industry, and another opted to stay and finish her schooling.
However, it was time for the War Guests to return home as they came of age or as their hometowns were deemed safe. In 1945, the Girl’s Athletic Association of the Technical School hosted a farewell party at the Girl in Red for three of the guests. They were presented with photo albums and serenaded by the songs I’ll See You Again and Only A Prayer Away. While the guests knew they would be leaving at some point in the near future, they didn’t have an exact date; in fact, they would only be provided with 24 hours advance notice to say their goodbyes and pack their things.
The City of Sault Ste. Marie presented each of the War Guests with a bracelet engraved with their names. At a turkey dinner in their honour, Mayor Jack McMeeken gave them his best wishes:
“Many countries have ambassadors with high sounding titles…. We feel that you boys and girls returning to the motherland will be good ambassadors for Canada without titles. We sincerely hope that your visit has been such that you will want to return again to our shores and probably bring with you relatives and friends.”
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