The Bridal Train by The Waifs

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This is now officially my favorite secular song. I find it hard to listen to without crying as it could be my parents' story. Mum left Australia to marry her Yankee Sailor. She, too, took the Bridal Train from Perth to the East Coast where she boarded the Marine Phoenix to sail to San Francisco where she then boarded another train to cross the USA to NYC and then onto New London, CT where she married my Dad. What a brave and strong woman.


The Bridal Train by the Waifs (Lyrics)

A telegram arrived today,
Well its time to catch the Monterey
'Cause the man I wed, he waits for me
And a daughter that he's yet to see

US Navy beamed its message,
Will deliver brides on a one way passage
It made big news across the nation
The bridal train leaves from Perth station

All the girls around Australia
Married to a Yankee sailor
The fare is paid across the sea
To the home of the brave and the land of the free

From west to east the young girls came
All aboard the bridal train
It was a farewell crossing of her land
She's gone to meet her sailor man

No time for sad goodbyes,
Well she held her mother as she cried
And then waited there in the Freo Rain,
To climb aboard the bridal train

Well she was holding her future in her hand
Yeah the faded photo of her man
Catch a sailor if you can
[ Lyrics found on http://www.metrolyrics.com ]

The war bride leaves a southern land

All the girls around Australia
Married to a Yankee Sailor
The fare is paid across the sea
To the home of the brave and the land of the free

From west to east the young girls came
All aboard the bridal train
It was a farewell crossing of her land
She's gone to meet her sailor man

Now this is the story of those starry nights
Through desert plains and city lights
Through burning sun and driving rain
They wept aboard the bridal train

All the girls around Australia
Married to a Yankee sailor
The fare is paid across the sea
To the home of the brave and the land of the free

From west to east the young girls came
All aboard the bridal train
It was a farewell crossing of her land
She's gone to meet her sailor man