From The WAAF To Ottawa

Joan Lockwood built a new life for herself across the Atlantic after marrying Canadian officer Ray Burns

When the conscription of women aged 20–30 started in December 1941 Joan Lockwood joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. Posted to the Royal Canadian Air Force Overseas Headquarters at Lincoln’s Inn Fields in West London as a clerk, in 1945 she met Ray Burns, a lieutenant in the Canadian Army. They hit it off immediately, and were married a few months later.

Ray sailed back to Canada in April 1946, where he waited for Joan’s arrival. In August Joan’s time came to leave; she wrote her brother Gordon a note on a Canadian $1 bill (pictured): “To my Dearest Brother with all my love, Joan.” She was one of 15 war brides on the voyage heading to Ottawa. The by-now exhausted women – some with young children – arrived very late at night in Halifax, Nova Scotia. They entered the Pier 21 Immigration Annex building, and were greeted by Red Cross volunteers.

Ray was so eager to be reunited that he met Joan's train

in Montreal. However, the brides had to complete the train journey so he sped back to the station in Ottawa. Her train arrived first, and Joan waited accompanied by a Red Cross volunteer. Eventually the crowd parted as Ray rushed up, picked her up and whirled her around, delighting everybody present.

The reception by Ray’s family was rather cool, but warmed up in time. Over the succeeding years the couple had five children. Ray died in 1980, but this brave grandmother of five and great grandmother of two celebrated her 100th birthday in 2020. She passed away a few months later.