Records Unit, National Archives of Canada, Ottawa, to Mr. Van Driest of The Netherlands, January 7, 1993
Letter from Research and Public Affairs Enquiries Officer, National Archives of Canada, to Donna Barkhouse of Winchester, Hants, England, November 20, 1994
Letter from Personnel Records Unit, National Archives of Canada, to Carol Packard of Winchester, Hants, England, December 20, 1994
Letter from Inquiries Officer, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, to Melynda Jarratt, May 7, 2001
Letter from Personnel Records Unit, National Archives of Canada, to Olga Rains, November 25, 2003
Letter from Syd Frost, Commanding Officer, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry
Acknowledgements
Voices of the Left Behind is a unique mixture of personal narratives, oral histories, original photographs and documents that were gathered over the course of nearly twenty-five years by Olga and Lloyd Rains, founders of the Dutch-based Project Roots. Together with co-editor Melynda Jarratt in New Brunswick, Canada, the Rains worked via e-mail from their home in Haarlem, the Netherlands, for more than three years to bring these stories to life, choosing the stories, gathering the images and documents, getting permission from each participant, translating, editing, rewriting and sometimes rewriting a story again if necessary. This is truly a book that would not have been possible without the Internet.
Each chapter contains an introductory essay that provides a social, cultural and historical context for the war-child story, from the experiences of war children in Britain, Holland, Belgium or Germany to the unique circumstances facing war children who were adopted at birth, whose fathers were Native Canadians, whose mothers were war brides, or whose mothers were Canadian servicewomen stationed overseas during the war. Using original sources found in the Public Archives of Canada and elsewhere, these introductions — and the final chapter, “By Virtue of His Service” — are a call to action and serve to shed light on a heretofore-unknown part of our Canadian history. The Rains and Ms. Jarratt sincerely hope this book will motivate a student of history to pursue the subject of the Canadian war children and their treatment since the end of World War II as the basis of a master’s or doctoral thesis. Certainly, there are considerable gaps in our understanding of this period, and much research remains to be done in the Public Archives of Canada as well as in England and Holland if we are to fully understand the war-child story and the place it holds in our country’s history.
Many thousands of hours of volunteer work has gone into the production of this book, and for this the Rains and Ms. Jarratt have numerous persons to acknowledge. Thanks are due to George Butters, who faithfully guided the editing of the book; Bill Traer, for his amazing patience and skill; Jan Walker, for her editing skills, sharp eye and encouragement over the past few years; and Patsy Hennessy, for her careful edit of the final manuscript.
Most importantly, however, this book would never have been published if not for the courage of the Canadian war children, their mothers in Britain and Europe, as well as the war children’s relatives in Canada and others who contributed their stories, pictures and documents to bring this story to life. In alphabetical order, they are:
| Alma | Irene Lynk |
| Margaret Atkinson | Diane and Ron Matthews |
| Sheila Blake | Nano Pennefeather-McConnell |
| Richard Bond | Jenny Moore |
| Johnny Bruggenkamp | Mary K. |
| Winnie Bullen | Pat K. |
| Robert Burwell | Katja |
| Celestine | Joan Kramer-Potts |
| Chris | Mia |
| Karen (Flintoff) Cockwell | Mira |
| Christine Coe | Nel |
| Sandra (Campbell) Connor | Peter |
| Diane | Kathleen Swann |
| Elly | Leona Tange |
| Eloise | Hans Kingma |
| Maureen Fletcher | Ralph Thompson |
| Alan Franklin | Sally |
| Simonne Gallis | Theo Timmer |
| Josephine Gee | Willy Van Ee |
| Carol Anne Hobbs | Jan Walker |
| Peter Hurricks | Pamela Walker |
| Jill | Susanne Werth |
| John | Christine Wilson |
| Willy Joormans | Heiko Windels |
Lloyd and Olga Rains and Melynda Jarratt, September 2003.
Preface
As president of the Transatlantic Children’s Enterprise (TRACE) and, at the beginning, the receiver of all enquiries, I was very glad to learn of Project Roots in Holland.
Our expertise was confined to advising on the search for American GIs; therefore, being able to pass on requests for help in finding Canadian fathers who had been in Europe in World War II to Olga Rains was a great help.
My involvement with this work began with the publication of my first book, Sentimental Journey: The story of the GI Brides, in 1984. One chapter, “Lost and Found,” related to the efforts of people, not always deliberately left behind, to find their GI fathers. Letters from people in similar situations began to pour in.
At first, I could use only my own knowledge of the United States, the fact that I had been a military wife, and the efforts of friends in the U.S. to help them. Then came a breakthrough, courtesy of the Ralph Nader Association in the U.S. One of the GI babies took the U.S. government to court to allow them access to military records and won. As long as they had such basic information as a full name, and the dates their fathers were in the U.K., these people were entitled to his last known address.
The
