Private George W. Langley

Ada Elizabeth Mills was born in Woolidge, England. Woolidge is located in a working section of London. Her family moved to Reigate in county Surrey when Ada was eleven years old. When the war broke out in Europe in 1939, Ada, as most young women at the time, got a job in a factory in Reigate. George was in the Black Watch military reserve prior to the outbreak to the Second World War in Montreal. George was called into service in 1939. He left Montreal to Halifax via train and departed from Pier 21 aboard a troopship for Britain. George was stationed in county Surrey in a town called East Grinstead near the current site of Gatwick airport. George knew he had distant relatives in Reigate and tried to contact them but without success.

George and Ada met in Reigate after George met Ada's neighbours in a pub in East Grinstead. A courtship ensued which resulted in George and Ada marrying in April 1942. After the ceremony, Ada was trying to keep her laughter at a minimum because the busloads of George's army buddies were finally arriving for the wedding as the couple were departing from the church. The reception was held down the road at the church hall in Reigate with Ada's family and friends in attendance as well as George's fellow servicemen. Late into the reception, George was seen rolling another barrel of beer from the local pub. Beer was the drink of choice as hard liquor was scarce during the war.

James William was George and Ada's first child and he was born in September 1944. George was serving in Holland at this time after successfully landing in June of that year in D-Day operations. After the war, George returned home to Montreal after he was discharged. Ada and her infant, James, left in June 1945 for their new life in Canada. Ada and James boarded a train with many other war brides from Reigate to travel to Liverpool where they stayed overnight in an old school. The next morning the war brides were taken aboard the Volendam to travel to Pier 21 in Halifax. Aboard the ship there were nurses who would care for the children so the women could deal with the luggage and the paperwork. Today, Ada doesn't remember much about the voyage but she does recall a large room with six to eight bunk beds with hammocks attached to the bunks for the children. The trip took five days and the sea was quite rough traveling from England to Canada, especially in the Irish Sea. Ada did not see much of Halifax but does recall Pier 21 as a huge warehouse that looked bleak and old much like everything else in Halifax. Once again, nurses took James out of Ada's arms so that she could go through the immigration process that met Ada at Pier 21. Ada arrived at Pier 21 with one sea trunk and a handbag.

The nurses helped the war brides right until they boarded the trains. The train ride was very dirty with the soot from the engines all over everything including James' face. Ada thought everything in Canada looked so old and she could not believe that all the homes were made of wood. Ada was surprised that the women used wicker baby carriages, as Ada left a nice carriage back in England. To Ada, it seemed like Canada was a country that hadn't arrived into the twentieth century. Ada felt fortunate that when she arrived in Montreal there were family members there to welcome her. Many war brides did not have this luxury and Ada knew she was fortunate. Life in Montreal did not turn out as George had promised. The apartment that they had planned to move into in Montreal was not available so George and Ada had to live with George's parents. The apartment was a one-bedroom apartment that was infested with rats. Ada killed many baby rats and would find James' blanket in his crib with holes gnawed by the vermin. After six months George and Ada received wartime housing but work was hard to come by in Montreal after the war because so many men were being discharged from the army. George and Ada decided to move back to England in September 1946 and came through Pier 21 again and across the Atlantic aboard the Ascania. This time with James and a new baby, Carol. They arrived in Southampton and took the train to Reigate.

Life was good in England where George had plenty of work and they had a nice home in Reigate. Ada had two more children in England, Margaret and Catherine, and was able to stay close to her large family with many brothers and sisters. George's parents continued to request George and Ada return to Montreal because George was an only child. George and Ada decided to come back to Canada in September 1955. They made their trip across the Atlantic aboard the Ascania, for their third and final voyage.