War bride War bride is a term used in reference to wartime marriages between soldiers and foreigners , especially – but not exclusively – during World War I and World War II . One of the largest and best documented war bride phenomenons is American soldiers marrying German " Fräulein s " after World War II . By 1949 , over 20 , 000 German war brides had emigrated to the US . Furthermore , it is estimated that there are " . . . 15 , 000 Australian women who married American servicemen based in Australia during World War II and moved to the US to be with their husbands " . Allied servicemen also married many women in other countries where they were stationed at the end of the war , including France , Luxembourg , Philippines , and Japan . This also occurred in Korea and Vietnam with the later wars in those countries involving U . S . troops and other anti - communist soldiers . As many as 100 , 000 GI war brides left the United Kingdom , 150 , 000 to 200 , 000 hailed from continental Europe , 15 , 500 from Australia and 1 , 500 from New Zealand , between the years 1942 and 1952 . In 2008 the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria , B . C . , Canada , had as its major exhibit paintings by Calgary artist Bev Tosh . The exhibit chronicled the warbride experience in Canada and New Zealand via a painting medium . War brides in World War II . During and immediately after WWII , more than 60 , 000 servicemen that married women overseas were promised that their wives and babies would be delivered to their doorsteps free of charge . The US Army ' s " Operation War Bride " , which would eventually transport more than 70 , 000 women and children , began in Britain in early 1946 . The first batch of war brides 455 British women and their 132 children arrived in the US on February 4 , 1946 . The RMS Mauretania left Liverpool , England , on 4 February 1946 as the first dedicated war bride ship to Canada bound for Pier 21 in Halifax . One estimate says that there were 300 thousand foreign war brides that came to the United States following the passage of the War Brides Act of 1945 , of which 51 , 747 were Filipino . About 650 Japanese war brides migrated to Australia after the ban on Japanese migration , imposed at the outbreak of the Pacific War , was lifted in 1952 when the San Francisco Peace Treaty came into force . They had married Australian soldiers involved in the Occupation of Japan . Approximately 43 , 500 war brides went to Canada accompanied by some 21 , 000 children . The overwhelming majority of these brides ( some 93 % ) were of British origins due to the fact that Canadian soldiers had been fraternizing with British civilians since the outbreak of the war in 1939 . Indeed , the first marriage between a Canadian serviceman and a British bride was registered at Farnborough Church in the Aldershot area just 43 days after the first Canadian soldiers arrived in December 1939 . These war brides to Canada emigrated mainly in 1946 in specially commissioned " war bride ships , " like the " Queen Mary " , " Letitia " , or " Mauretania " , and the " Île de France " , landing at Pier 21 in Halifax . The Canadian Museum of Immigration has a section dedicated to war brides located on that site at Pier 21 . Korean War . 6 , 423 Korean women married US military personnel as war brides during and immediately after the Korean War . Vietnam War . 8 , 040 Vietnamese women came to the United States as war brides between 1964 and 1975 . 2003 Iraq War . War brides from wars subsequent to Vietnam became less common due to differences in religion and culture , shorter durations of wars , and direct orders . As of 2006 , about 1 , 500 visa requests had been made by US military personnel for Iraqi spouses and fiancées . There have been several well - publicized cases of American soldiers marrying Iraqi women . Operation Enduring Freedom . Cases of war brides from Afghanistan are rare , due to cultural reasons , as in Iraq .