The World War II War Brides Association, a group of foreign-born wives and husbands of U.S. military personnel who
married during the time of World War II and subsequent wars, is holding its week-long reunion onboard the Queen Mary from Nov. 3 to Nov. 7.
Reunions are held every year in different parts of the United States.
The event is celebrating 70 years since the end of World War II and the use of the Queen Mary to transport war brides and children to the United States and Canada.
Dresses worn by the war brides decades ago now sit on display aboard the Queen Mary along with other memorabilia of those involved during the World War II era.
It was that era that brought forth a life of struggle.
“All these women teach us how to survive, and how they survived,” said Beverly Sollars, the exhibits coordinator and a World War II Australian war baby. “We need to know that history.”
During the reunion, the Signal Tribune reached out to war brides onboard the Queen Mary during the event and asked about their experiences.
Nina Edillo
If you were to ask Nina Edillo about what happened more than 70 years ago in the Philippines, it would be as if the memories of agony, gunfire and constant running and hiding instantly became reality once more.
She understands that she’s lucky to have a chance to talk about it.
“Sometimes I say, ‘Is it a dream?'” Edillo said. “Life, in a minute, is just gone. You just never know.”
Edillo resides in San Jose, Calif. and lives with her daughter and son-in-law. And it’s only the literal circumstance of life or death tipping over in Edillo’s favor that has her living the life that she does today.
It was December of 1944 that Manila, the capital of the Philippines, was raided by Japanese armed forces.
She was at the center of it all.
[aesop_image imgwidth=”400px” img=”http://www.signaltribunenewspaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/War-brides-1-for-FP.jpg” credit=”Photo by Monica Gallardo ” align=”right” lightbox=”on” caption=”A Japanese invasion of the Philippines wiped out Nina Edillo’s home in Manila. Edillo thanks God for making it out alive.” captionposition=”right”] With seemingly no transition from one moment to another, the Japanese suddenly attacked Manila and took hold and herded thousands of Filipinos away from their homes, Edillo said.
It only took the Japanese soldiers about a week before they were trying to kill as many Filipinos as they could.
“They told us to hurry,” Edillo said of the Japanese, “and all I had was a bundle of precious things. Things that were precious to me then— just some shoes and clothes that I had.”
What Edillo didn’t understand at the time was that the Philippines Campaign of World War II was in full swing. General Douglas MacArthur had landed months earlier, and the battle between American and Japanese forces was to ensue, with the Allied forces making attempts to liberate the Philippines.
Edillo was in a group of about 500 people, along with her mom, dad and sister. There was no option other than to follow orders and to tread along with a scarce amount of food, water and clothing.
It’s a feeling that Edillo remembers all too well.
“I felt that bayonet on my back,” she said. “It scared the heck out of me.”
At some point, the group was told to disperse and run as fast as they can. As some Japanese soldiers fired at the scattered frenzy, Edillo’s family managed to get far enough and eventually hide under a concrete building. They remained hidden under the bombed-out building for a little more than a day.
When morning came, the Japanese were leading a small group of hostages and instructing them to make their way to a nearby hospital. It was Edillo’s father that made the decision to not go with the crowd. Minutes later, the whirling buzz of a machine gun all but confirmed that most of them died crossing the avenue, Edillo said.
“Thank God Dad said we don’t go with that crowd,” she said.
It was days of running and hiding with little to no food and water.
“It was just staying there,” Edillo said of the hiding. “We could hear all the bombings and the shelling of the Americans toward the Japanese. All while the Japanese are trying to shoot at any civilian that they could find.”
It was every so often that Japanese soldiers would scurry along the area and Edillo’s family would play dead in order to avoid confrontation. But Edillo could hear that others were not so lucky as barrages of gunfire struck others playing possum, as well.
It was during those instances that Edillo heard the marching of American soldiers.
“’Dad, those are Americans,'” Edillo recalled herself saying. “’Blue eyes! He’s American!'”
At that moment, the family was instructed to run as far away in the opposite direction. They had stumbled upon the firing line of the American and Japanese battle.
Edillo didn’t need to be told twice.
“As soon as I heard that, I don’t know if I had wings in my feet, but I ran as fast as I could,” she said. “We had to get out of here. You hear all the shootings and the machine guns. I couldn’t tell who was a Japanese or an American.”
But it was the farther she went that she realized what she was running through: dead bodies.
“When I was running, I was like ‘Oh, my God. Those are dead people,'” she said. “I don’t know if they are soldiers or civilians or what, but they were just scattered all around. I didn’t want to look, but I had to see where I was running.”
The running finally stopped when the family encountered a Jeep. Another friendly face. Five American soldiers gave the family a “good morning” and proceeded to offer them grapefruit juice— of which Edillo joking admitted that she hated the taste, but “at that point we needed anything” — and shelter at a nearby school.
They were treated by an American Red Cross medical unit and offered food. Spaghetti had never tasted so good, Edillo said.
Present day, Edillo credits God for guiding her family to safety. It’s divine intervention that helped her find her place amongst the World War II war brides, as well, she said.
She read about the war brides in the newspaper and has since then participated in every event.
But things could just as well have gone differently.
“I thank God. God was good,” Edillo said. “He was just the one guiding us. Most of our friends who were with us died. Those who went to the hospital where we were told to go, [the Japanese] were there across the street ready with their machine guns. My dad said ‘No, let’s not go with the group.’ God told him that we shouldn’t go. When I think of that, I think, ‘What else can I say?'”
The Zimmermans
The only original couple from the World War II era onboard the Queen Mary, Jackie and Ted Zimmerman were married on Aug. 31, 1946 in Brussels, Belgium.
There are not many original couples from World War II left, according to those at the reunion.
They both met at a New Year’s eve party in Belgium. It was there that they agreed to meet two days later at a cafeÌ for a date.
It was to Ted’s disappointment that Jackie had not remembered his name. “The most precious thing anyone has is their name,” Ted said humorously with a flabbergasted look on his face.
The couple went on to have a series of dates before Ted was unexpectedly transferred to the coast of Paris, 150 miles away from Brussels, where Jackie lived.
Every weekend, Ted would hitch a ride there and back to visit Jackie. He soon grew tired of the routine and decided to solidify the relationship by proposing.
“What?” Jackie recalled reacting to the proposal. It wasn’t until a few moments later when she finally gave a response to Ted, who poked fun at the situation, and gave a resounding “Well, OK” as an answer.
Ted said that all war brides were permitted into the United States through a special act of Congress. But even then, there was still a process of approval.
Before they could get married, one of the processes involved was a form of documentation delivered to Jackie that requested an answer as to why she was getting married.
[aesop_image imgwidth=”400px” img=”http://www.signaltribunenewspaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Screen-Shot-2015-11-06-at-9.34.16-AM.png” credit=”Denny Cristales/Signal Tribune ” align=”right” lightbox=”on” caption=”Jackie and Ted Zimmerman” captionposition=”right”] “Do you or don’t [you] love me?” Ted asked Jackie. “I guess” was the humor-filled answer, and so she had to sign off “I am marrying Ted Zimmerman because I love him” as the sole reason as to why she was getting married.
Jackie’s wedding dress was made up of parachute material, which Ted got a hold of by bartering away a bottle of “hooch,” or whiskey. Jackie designed the dress, took the parachute apart and gave it to a dressmaker.
Jackie and Ted were eventually married and came to the United States together.
The dress has since been passed on to Jackie’s sister, who wore it four years later for her wedding, and then to Jackie’s daughter, who used it 25 years later.
The wedding dress is now in a World War II museum in New Orleans.
Before meeting Ted, Jackie’s life was filled with hard times.
Belgium was neutral at the start of World War II but found itself caught in the conflict in 1940 when German forces invaded, leading to Belgium’s surrender.
“We were very hungry and very cold and hoping the bombs wouldn’t fall on us when [the Germans] came over,” she said. “The occupation was very hard.”
Jackie said that she was at one point forced by German officials to sign papers stating that she volunteered to work for a German ammunition base.
“I signed it under duress, otherwise I was going to be sent to jail,” she said. “I signed these papers and then I went into hiding, because my parents didn’t want me to go. If I had gone, I wouldn’t be sitting here; I’d be dead. After the war, I went to Hamburg and the ammunition factory— I can’t remember the name of the place,but it was as flat as a pancake.”
Jackie now thinks about the war brides reunion and can’t help but marvel at how some of these people who are gathering around sharing their war stories were at one point on different sides.
It’s such a wonderful thing, she said.
“It’s great,” Jackie said. “We are friends with former enemies and all that. We love them all. After all, what did they know? They did only what they were told. America is a melting pot anyway.”
Joy Beebe
The looming threat of bombing raids was always a norm for Joy Beebe in London, England during World War II. She recalls only going to school twice a week, and classes were held inside of air-raid shelters, which were “really uncomfortable.”
Joy married Carl Beebe in Kent, England on April 28, 1945. She never thought of coming to America, but she never felt sorry about making the change.
“I was very upset when I first came here,” she said. “I was very homesick. But it’s turned out fine.”
[aesop_image imgwidth=”350px” img=”http://www.signaltribunenewspaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Screen-Shot-2015-11-06-at-9.35.49-AM.png” credit=”Denny Cristales/Signal Tribune ” align=”left” lightbox=”on” caption=”Joy Beebe at the World War II War Brides Association reunion” captionposition=”left”] Joy used to work near the Tower of London. One of her fondest memories was spending time with Carl during their break.
“I used to be so happy, because my new boyfriend, who ended up being my husband, used to come up on the trail,” Joy said. “At lunch time, we’d walk around the Tower of London and places that I enjoyed in London. We were just happy to be together.”
They eventually had four children. Carl would work during the day, Joy would work during the evening. Joy described the days after the war as very tough, but she always enjoyed spending her time with Carl.
“He was a quiet man. He was a very gentle man,” she said. “We went back to England several times, but he’s been gone for some time now.”
Joy has written a book documenting her experiences during World War II entitled Snapshots of a War Bride’s Life. The description of her book describes her life of that filled with “scary bomb sounds, sleeping under a table and watching London burn from afar.”
Also kept intact from her life is the wedding dress she wore when she married Carl. It’s on display at the bottom part of an exhibit onboard the Queen Mary during the war brides reunion.
Joy always likes sharing her experiences.
“I love getting together with this group of ladies,” she said. “It’s been great. We are all getting so old that we are ready to exchange our stories. It seems that once you retire, some of the youth comes back to your head. When you think about it, you remember more and more, all the time.”
