Series 0259.02 - Vi Dryer

Violet Remnant was a 16 year old shop assistant in Wrecclesham, Surrey, not far from the Canadian Army Base in Aldershot, when she first met Arnold Dryer at a dance in the Village Hall. Arnold’s squadron was billeted nearby in the village of Rowledge. The relationship blossomed, and from wherever Arnold’s squadron moved to, his letters found their way back to Violet.
At 18, Vi joined the Air Force, working as a clerk in RAF records in Gloucestershire. When the war ended, they were afraid that Arnold would be drafted home, so with four days notice, they planned a wedding.
“We still needed clothing coupons to buy new clothing,” Vi remembered. “I bought a royal blue dress, and my mother used seven of her own coupons to buy Arnold some Oxford shoes. There was no way she was going to let him go up the aisle in army boots!”
After the wedding, Arnold was indeed sent back to Canada, and Vi waited for permission from the Canadian Wives Bureau to join him. She was discharged from the Air Force and put in time helping at the local post office. She had to be ready to go with only a couple of days' notice.
In June she sailed on the Aquatania with another bride bound for Grande Prairie, Betty Eskdale. Her sister-in-law, Mrs. Robert Dryer sailed at the same time, but on a ship of wives with babies. Violet remembers that it was the first time she wore pants, and that the food was marvelous because they were not on rations on the ship. There was a lot of fruit, and they hadn’t seen fruit for a long time.
The war brides were processed through immigration at Pier 21 in Halifax. From there, they took a train across Canada. For five days, day and night, she endured the dirt, the heat and the constant rocking motion. They stopped in Quebec City on July 1, and by the 3rd had reached Edmonton. “The Red Cross nurse took us shopping. I paid $7.00 for a pair of shoes. She put us on a train for Grande Prairie.” The train trip seemed to go on forever.
It was 90 degrees on July 4th when Vi arrived in Grande Prairie, and she was wearing a wool suit. Arnold’s entire family was there to meet her—Arnold in a striped de-mobilization suit. “It was the first time I had seen him in civilian clothing, and he had bee stings on one ear.” They walked up Richmond Avenue and went into the Palace Café. “Banana Split 25c” said a sign on the wall.

The editor of the newspaper, J.B. Yule, was one person Vi met on her first day in Grande Prairie. The news of their arrival was proclaimed on the front page in the next issue of the paper: "Three War Brides Arrive Grande Prairie".
Neighbours also welcomed the war brides. In August, they gathered for a bridal shower, something they didn’t do in England. Gifts included a cream and sugar set, dishes, pillow slips, towels, and best of all a box of home canning!
Although the young Mrs. Dryer was “homesick off and on” over the next year, she enjoyed being on the farm and the many good neighbours. Grande Prairie is still her home 60 years later.