The Swedish war bride's dress

A unique parachute wedding dress has once again crossed the Atlantic and is exhibited at a museum in Halmstad. 

  • The parachute wedding dress exhibited at the museum in Halmstad.

  • Just over a year ago we covered the U.S. premiere of the documentary film Lucky Strike — When the Americans arrived, about the American flight crews that landed in central Sweden during WWII. One of the film's main characters was a Swedish-American "war bride" Kerstin Kahlow whose unique parachute wedding dress has once again crossed the Atlantic and is exhibited at the army museum in Halmstad.
    The pilot Pete Petersson, USAAF, of Swedish-American descent, and his B-17 Flying Fortress are in 1944 hit hard by air defense over Germany, but the pilot manages to miraculously save his plane and crew to Sweden. Pete becomes head of a group traveling around Sweden to repair the emergency landed U.S. planes that can be salvaged. During one of the trips he meets young Kerstin Kahlow from Halmstad. They fall deeply in love and are about to get married. But there is textile rationing in Sweden, so how does a young bride get enough rationing coupons for a wedding dress?

  • The wedding held at Sperlingsholms Chapel in Halmstad.

  • Preparations for the wedding
    Kerstin comes up with the amazing idea of using her husband-to-be's parachute for the dress. In the evenings and nights she sews a marvelous wedding dress of a material so nice that no one in Sweden has seen anything like it, and a glorious wedding is held at Sperlingsholms Chapel in Halmstad.

  • The bride, Kerstin Kahlow from Halmstad on her wedding day.

  • The film’s director, Jan-Olof Nilsson was truly amazed: “I was so impressed by Kerstin's story that I simply had to travel to America to film this 94-year-old wonderful woman. It was an unforgettable meeting. When the staff at the museum in Halmstad watched my movie on TV they were excited and asked me to contact her to ask if it was possible to borrow the dress for a special show about the war years.”
    Kerstin and her wedding dress are really the main attraction. So now, this beautiful bridal dress has once again crossed the Atlantic—truly a wedding dress with an extraordinary Swedish-American history.
    For more info on the movie, see www.historieresan.se and for info on the Halmstad museum, see Garnisons- och Luftvärnsmuseet