Military Monday: War Bride Survivours

Tim Cook, serving as a military expert during the CBC TV coverage of the ceremonies at the National War Memorial on 11 November, mentioned twice that there are about 20,000 Second World War veterans still living. He didn’t mention a source.

According to Library and Archives Canada, 1,159,000 Canadians and Newfoundlands served. About 61,000 died leaving 1.1 million alive at the end of the war in 1945. That’s 1.8 percent of those alive in 1945 still living.

Applying the same percentage to the 43,454 war brides who came to Canada after the Second World War that would be 782 war bride survivours.

A previous estimate for living war brides in 2020 was 1,000 to 1,800. Applying the death stats from life tables the range at the end of 2021 would be 640 to 1,152. It’s a happy day when two estimates are in the same range.

One Reply to “Military Monday: War Bride Survivours”

  1. I didn’t realize that you could use the proper noun “Newfoundlands”
    to designate the habitants of Newfoundland. I thought you had to use the word “Newfoundlanders” as in New Englanders.
    Both the Oxford and Gage dictionaries refer to that as a breed of dog.
    Take good care and Stay Safe !

    JH

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