Friendly Invasion E-Book

Henry Buckton

• Herausgeber: Phillimore & Co Ltd
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 384

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

Between 1942 and 1945, tens of thousands of young American servicemen arrived in Britain. This book is an examination of the way their presence affected them and the local people during the Second World War. It is a social history and studies the various relationships forged between the British public and their American guests.

Leseprobe

Officers of the 360th Bomb Squadron, entertain local girls at their Molesworth base, 7 April 1945 (photo courtesy of Mark Forlow)

First published 2006

PHILLIMORE & CO. LTD, an imprint of The History Press

The Mill, Brimscombe Port

Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 2QG

www.thehistorypress.co.uk

This ebook edition first published 2016

All rights reserved

©Henry Buckton, 2006

The right of Henry Buckton to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

EPUB ISBN 978 0 7509 7975 7

eBook converted by Geethik Technologies

CONTENTS

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1 ‘Hey guys, we’re in England!’

2 Home sweet home

3 Getting to know you

4 Working together

5 Men and machines

6 A time to relax

7 Guys and dolls

8 GI brides and babies

9 ‘Got any gum chum?’

10 Bolero and beyond

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Frontispiece: 360th Officers party

1 American soldiers in Cornwall 1944

2 B-17 flying over Thorpe Abbots

3 American soldier and dog-walker

4 George Rarey and P-47 Thunderbolt

5 George Rarey’s arrival cartoon

6 Sergeant Al Cunningham

7 Mr Gibson of the Red Cross

8 Black GIs

9 White GIs

10 Crewmen of the 358th Bomb Squadron

11 George Barey’s officer caricatures

12 Clark Gable in Molesworth

13 Entertainers visiting Molesworth

14 Humphrey Bogart visits Molesworth

15 USO entertainer Jerry Cologna

16 George Rarey’s Nissen hut at Wormingford

17 Ground crews work on aircraft at Bassingbourn

18 B-17 Little Patches

19 The arrival of Bruno

20 Mary Croft at the American Red Cross Club

21 Elsie Lewis, American Red Cross Service Club

22 Card presented to Elsie Lewis

23 Devizes American Red Cross Club

24 Troops on a training exercise

25 American Red Cross Clubmobile

26 The Clubmobile and the B-17E Phyllis

27 A B-24 Liberator over East Anglia

28 T/Sgt Alexander Hartmann

29 A morning briefing

30 A B-24 Liberator

31 The sergeants’ mess at Molesworth

32 Father Edmond Skoner conducts mass

33 The Sound of Thunder by Roger Lane

34 Hope and Glory by Roger Lane

35 Phil Natale, an American soldier

36 Eaton Constantine from the air

37 P-47 Thunderbolt and P-51 Mustang

38 Our New Home by George Rarey

39 Beryl Glenister with Albert Hoffer

40 Clem Dwyer, an American soldier

41 Clem pictured in Maldon

42 Bill Overley from Salt Lake City

43 Personnel of the 3rd Special Service Unit

44 Bob Land, an American soldier

45 Tea time at the NAAFI truck

46 The Mewtons’ regular visitors

47 Tommy, an American soldier

48 Brian Bawden’s regular visitor

49 Percy O’Mahlen, an American soldier

50 An ambulance at Wendling in Norfolk

51 Jimmy Robbins, the 188th General Hospital Unit

52 Colonel Stevens and the Royal Family

53 Princess Elizabeth meets US troops

54 Lord Trenchard, Marshal of the RAF

55 Corporal James Owens, in full kit

56 Alan J. Stewart in front of 14th Major Port Headquarters

57 Sally, an American Red Cross Entertainment Officer

58 Nothe Fort

59 American engineers

60 Bofors gun at Nothe Fort, Weymouth

61 GIs of the 392nd Bomb Group

62 US Navy airmen using a phone box

63 Axminster American Army hospital staff

64 Arthur Grubb, Reen Cross Farm, 1945

65 Soldiers of the 4th Armored Division

66 A brand new B-17G

67 Flight Line Maintenance

68 An escape and invasion exercise

69 American Army pigeon lofts, Andover

70 Painting the cowlings of aircraft

71 Examples of 379th Squadron cowlings

72 Large Mercator map of Europe

73 Damage on a wing of B-17G Bam Bam

74 B-17F Thumper, 303rd Bomb Group

75 Liberators over Long Melford by Roger Lane

76 A B-17G crashes into a hangar

77 Members of the 430th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion (Mobile)

78 Sherman tank retrieved from the sea

79 Memorial on Slapton Sands

80 Military Policemen catching trout

81 303rd airmen playing baseball

82 Bill Overley, an American serviceman

83 English bicycles

84 A GI posing with English bicycles

85 Americans are out for a summer ride

86 Enjoying the English countryside

87 GIs enjoying a pint of English ale

88 George Rarey’s village pub depiction

89 ‘Staff Sgt Joe Louis’

90 Cartoon of GIs in London

91 Rosebery Road Methodist Church, Norwich

92 Will Gamble and Allan Thomas

93 American Red Cross Club, Newbury

94 The Glenn Miller band

95 The Rhythm Pilots, 1945

96 The Rhythm Pilots, 1943

97 Betty Traves and friends

98 Three American soldiers

99 The 303rd’s Birthday Party invitation

100 Dance invitation

101 Sergeant Mellor

102 Mary Singleton

103 1199th Military Police Company

104 Military Police Company motorcycle

105 486th Bomb Group members

106 A walk in the woods

107 Hilda Willsone in ATS uniform

108 Theresa, Jessie and Philip Denton

109 Peggy Holbrow

110 Dorothy Stanley and Karl Miller

111 Hazel Green

112 An American soldier

113 Local girls with GIs at the Cadre Club

114 ‘The night of the big Fracas’

115 The Hells Angels Club, Molesworth

116 Aircraft nose art

117 The Hells Angels 2nd Birthday bash

118 George Rarey’s mail cartoon

119 Marjorie and Bill’s wedding

120 Sergeant Leonard Dougal and Gertrude ‘Cissy’ Wilkins

121 Charles ‘Chuck’ Osborn and family

122 Don Hetrick, 101st airborne

123 Don and Joan’s wedding

124 John B. Thomas in Parkend, 1942

125 The New Inn at Parkend

126 John B. Thomas, September 1944

127 Daphne Elizabeth Baker

128 John and Daphne

129 Alexander Langraf and Doris Schutte’s wedding

130 Sergeant Jim Sharkey

131 Jim and Annie Sharkey’s wedding

132 Johnnie Kiernan and Christine Haddaway’s wedding

133 Homer Chambers

134 Gwen Gallech’s baby photo

135 Super Sixth painting

136 Boys near the American Army hospital

137 Bob Hope

138 A busy scene at Rougham

139 Munitions store at Wendling

140 Private First Class Louie Braden

141 Carole Miller, June 1948

142 Children’s Christmas Party, 1943

143 Santa at a Christmas Party

144 A GI at a Children’s Christmas Party

145 Members of the 430th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion (Mobile)

146 Bernie De Primo and Jim Ferrell

147 Private 1st Class Phil Berardelli

148 A GI of the 4th Armored Division

149 Men of the 4th Armored Division

150 Rodney Pearce

151 Landing craft at Brixham, Devon

152 Marching American soldiers

153 Lt John J. McGarry Jr’s grave

154 Sally returns home

155 SS Queen Elizabeth in New York

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank the following for helping with memories, photographs and other information: Deanna Allan, Rosemary Allen, Vera Anderson, Jean Angel, John Astridge, Sylvia Atkinson, Julie Baker, Margaret Ball, Jane Barham, Geoff Bartrum, Vera Bassett, Brian Bawden, Joyce Beard, Jane Bedmanzyk, Mr R.E. Bennett, Olivia Birchell, Tony Blades, Tim Bliss, Mrs M. Borman, Peggy Braybrooke, Mrs Brooks, Mrs J. Bryant, Jack Buzza, Joy Caddy, Roger Carne, Fred Carr, Geoffrey Charge, Margaret Chesterton, Derek Chorley, Paul Chryst, Mrs J. Clarke, Bernice Conway, Enrico Cortese, Mr H. Cox, Betty Currah, Theresa Denton, Eileen Dickinson, David Dodge, Stan Dyer, David Edwards, June Edwards, Derek Evans, Rosemary Farrow, Gladys Fellingham, Joy Ffoulkes, Penny Fleming, Dave Ford, John Gale, Gwendoline Gallech, Bernard Galpin, Mr T.E. Garraway, Beryl Glenister, Gwen Ghijben, Doreen Govan, Bill Gower, Brenda Gower, Mrs B. Grant, Geoff Grater, Cynthia Gray, Hazel Green, Ron Green, John Griffin, Mr K. Grimes, Ronald Grubb, Cyril Guscott, Lomond Handley, Ellice Hansford, Win Harfield, Joe Harlick, Dr David Hay, Mary Hayward, Bunny Hempstead, Mrs A Highley, Whitmal Hill, Peggy Holbrow, Karen Holyoake, Bryan Huxtable, Jim Jefferes, Bryan Keeping, Daphne Kellaway, Gwen Kemp, Frank Kidwell, Dorothy Knapp, Elsie Lewis, Ken Manley, Olive Martin, Jennifer Mason, John Matthews, Joy Matthews, Mrs E. McPace, Roy Mellor, Monica Mercer, Carole Miller, Ann Morley, Pamela Moyse, Mrs V. Mulholland, Muriel Mundy, Pauline Natividad, Anita O’Brien, Colin Osborne, John Owen, Molly Owen, Sylvia Patching, Hilda Paull, Eric Peachey, Rodney Pearce, John Peck, Peter Percy, Walter Percy, Walter Perry, Bernard Peters, Ivor Peters, Sheila Petroff, Sheila Pitman, Bryan Potter, Bob Powell, Eric Puckett, Beryl Reeser, Wendy Rennison, Pat Robinson, Rosemary Robson, Lorna Rundle, Colin Sarel, Mr E.R. Saunders, Annie Sharkey, Alan Shillum, Mary Singleton, Dorothy Smith, Jane Smith, Margaret Sproit, Sheila Stacey, Dorothy Stanley, Mike Stanley, Ivor Strange, Peggy Stephens, Roy Stevens, Sylvia Street, Mrs E. Tamblyn, Peter Tamplin, Daphne Tandy, Lois Taylor, Allan Thomas, Iris Thomas, Patricia Thomas, Jim Timoney, Mrs J. Tombs, Graham Toms, Margaret Topp, Betty Traves, Lorraine Trembath, Gordon Tunnicliffe, Bill Underwood, Bryan White, Joy Wilkinson, Muriel Williamson, and Hilda Willsone.

I would also like to thank Sue Robbins, librarian at the Gloucestershire Echo, for allowing me to use research from several of her articles. Tim Grace, 368th Fighter Group Association historian, for his own memories and extracts from the squadron newsletter The Fortress Feature written by Herbert Karp. Ruth Wood, reporter for The Western Daily Press, for letting me quote from her article about Deborah Prior, and to Deborah herself for her permission. Linda Rarey for letting me reproduce sketches and letters made by her late father-in-law George Rarey, both from the book Laughter and Tears, The Art of Captain George Rarey, edited by Damon Frantz Rarey: copyright Damon Rarey; and the website www.rareybird.com created by her late husband Damon as a tribute to his father. Thanks also to Adam Smith, vice president of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) Museum, Oshkosh, WI, for his help with photographs connected to George Rarey. Lindsay Fry for sending me a copy, and letting me use extracts and information published in her father’s book A Teenage View of Weymouth by Des Fry, printed by The Book Factory, London. Joe Crowfoot for permission to reproduce his paintings, tel. [phone] www.joecrowfootartist.co.uk. Gary Moncur, from the 303rd Bomb Group Association, for the use of their images, and those of Blanche (Barnes) Gangwere, George T. Mackin and Paul O Harmon. Thanks also to Mark Forlow for the use of his own photographs of the 303rd. Ben Jones for letting me reproduce photographs belonging to www.b24.net. Thanks to Dunkeswell Memorial Museum; Robin Smith 486th Bomb Group Association; Gerry Tyack/Wellington Aviation Museum; Alan Heather/Torquay Museum.

INTRODUCTION

Since September 1939 when Britain went to war, its population had faced many impacts and turmoils. The lives of ordinary people were changed in many extraordinary ways. The majority of able-bodied men had been called up by the armed forces, while others that were either too young or too old for active service had joined the Local Defence Volunteers; the ARP; or one of the emergency services. Women of all ages worked in factories and fields, helping to sustain the war effort. Others had joined the armed forces themselves, providing essential back-up services, particularly for the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. Even children were affected by things such as rationing and evacuation. Then there were the physical dangers that everybody had faced together, during the Battle of Britain and the Blitz. Nearly everybody in Britain was affected by the war in some way.

Then, in 1942, Britain’s population faced yet another impact to their lives, as tens of thousands of young American servicemen began to arrive, effectively turning many parts of the British Isles into transit or training camps. Most of these men were in Britain for one of two reasons. They were either part of an infantry, armoured, or airborne division, preparing for the Normandy invasion; or they were airmen taking part in the strategic bombardment of Nazi-occupied Europe, or the Battle of the Atlantic. But whatever their particular reason for being here, their presence over a very short period of time would have a lasting effect on the communities they visited.

This book is not a detailed history of the American occupation of the British Isles during the Second World War, nor the military operations that the Americans took part in, but an examination of the way their presence affected both them and the local people. How friendships and romances were forged between individuals and communities, that existed long after Hitler and his breed had been consigned to dust. It is a social, rather than a military history, and studies the real life experiences of people on the periphery of world-changing events.

But why were the Americans in Britain in the first place and how had they become involved in a second major European war? It all really began on 7 December 1941, when the Japanese made a surprise attack on the US Pacific Fleet, which was anchored at Pearl Harbor. This act of aggression brought the Americans into the war in the Pacific, as allies to the British who were themselves facing a Japanese invasion of Malaya, which ultimately led to the unconditional surrender of Singapore in February 1942.

In September 1940, Japan had become part of the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis. This three-power pact, signed in Berlin, between Germany, Italy, and Japan, meant that the three countries in question would pledge aid to one another for a period of ten years. So, when Japan drew up its plan for the invasion of South-East Asia, which included attacks on the Americans at Pearl Harbor and the British in Malaya, not only did the situation make America and Britain allies, it made America and Germany enemies, as the Germans were allied to the Japanese. On 11 December 1941, four days after Pearl Harbor, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States, shortly followed by US mobilization: the compulsory call up for military service of men between 20 and 44 years of age.

Winston Churchill, the prime minister of Britain, went almost immediately to Washington, to meet President Roosevelt. Both were accompanied by their senior military advisers, and, over lengthy discussions code-named Arcadia, these combined chiefs of staff mapped out their plan for global war, with priority given to defeating Germany and Italy. It was agreed that although enough forces should be deployed against the Japanese to hold them in check, no major military operations would take place in Asia, until Hitler, Mussolini, and their regimes had been dealt with. To this end, Operation Bolero was set in motion. Bolero was the code-name for the large-scale build up of American forces in Britain.

Planning continued, and the decision was taken to invade North Africa first, followed by southern Europe through Italy, as a precursor to an attack against Hitler’s Atlantic sea wall. In the meantime American ground and air forces began to build up in large numbers in the British Isles by mid-1942.

It had previously been difficult and dangerous for convoys to cross the Atlantic Ocean, because of the ever-present threat of German U-boat wolf packs. But by the end of 1942 the balance of power in the Atlantic had begun to shift in favour of the Allies, and it was now possible to transport huge quantities of armour and men across the ocean. Tanks, artillery, and aircraft crossed the pond in preparation for the inevitable invasion of western Europe. And of course, while the members of the many infantry, armoured and airborne divisions set about training, the 8th and 9th United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) were able to enter into the conflict with immediate effect, from bases throughout East Anglia and other parts of Britain. American strategic bombing of continental targets began with the bombing of marshalling yards at Rouen on 17 August 1942.

D-Day, 6 June 1944, was still two years away, when over 70,000 American soldiers participated in the invasion of Normandy from bases in Britain: thousands more would follow in the succeeding months. So for two years, tens of thousands of American servicemen lived and worked in Britain’s backyard. Many airmen stationed in Britain remained until the final days of the European war in May 1945. Not only did they live and work in Britain, but they played – and often loved – in Britain as well.

This book is an examination of those eventful and unique years. At no other single time in its history has Britain played host to so many men and women from another nation. The effect was intense, some times for the good, and some times for the bad. For many, the effect of those years of occupation would last a lifetime, and would reverberate down through the generations that followed.

Chapter 1

‘HEY GUYS, WE’RE IN ENGLAND’

For various reasons American servicemen began to arrive in different parts of Britain from the spring of 1942 onwards. Cheltenham in Gloucestershire was chosen to locate the headquarters of the US Army’s Services of Supply Command (SOS). American Army chiefs had insisted on a central site, preferably in southern England, from where they could administer to the needs of the troops and installations that would follow. General John Lee, who had been appointed to command SOS forces in Europe, inspected the suggested site covering Benhall Farm and Oakley Farm in June 1942. The buildings he found there had been built by and for the British War Office, to act as an evacuation point in the event of invasion.

The site proved ideal and, one month after General Lee’s inspection, the first wave of US personnel began to arrive. But although office facilities were in place, later occupied by GCHQ, there were no barracks for the men. Officers were quartered in local hotels, while for the GIs tented camps sprang up all around Cheltenham, including one in Pittville Park near the Pump Room, and another at the famous Prestbury Park racecourse. At many locations, these tents were eventually replaced by more permanent forms of accommodation, including brick-built barracks and the now legendary Nissen huts, many of which can still be seen around the country, acting as lasting reminders of this brief moment in our nation’s social history.

1 American soldiers at a tented camp at Threemilestone in Cornwall in 1944. (Photo: courtesy of Brian Bawden)

2 A B-17 flying over Thorpe Abbots, a typical American airbase in East Anglia. From a painting by Joe Crowfoot. (Copyright: Joe Crowfoot and reproduced with his permission)

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Before long American bases were springing up everywhere, especially in East Anglia, from where the 8th USAAF would begin its bombardment of Nazi-occupied Europe. Throughout the West Country, depots, hospitals and other sites began to appear in preparation for the massive influx of personnel that would arrive during the build up to Operation Overlord in June 1944.

To have Americans stationed near your town or village was such a big event, especially for children, that many people naturally always remember their very first contact with them. Many people had a pre-conceived idea of what they were like. As a 14-year-old living in Dereham in Norfolk, Tony Blades had only ever seen Americans at the local picture palace, admitting that he could only associate them with the movie stars he had seen. He and his friends wishfully thought that, back home in the United States, they were probably all either cowboys or gangsters. Impressionable young ladies, on the other hand, might have associated them with the more glamorous type of films they were accustomed to watching, set in places with romantic sounding names like Hollywood, Beverly Hills, or Manhattan.

Dereham was close to several American airbases that had been taken over by men and aircraft of the 8th Air Force – the Mighty Eighth – notably at Shipdham, which had become home to the 44th Bomb Group; and Wendling, where the 392nd Bomb Group had taken up residence. Both of these groups were components of the 14th Combat Wing, and flew a variety of B-24 Liberator bombers during their stay. It was inevitable therefore that, once settled in, the young servicemen who flew and maintained these ‘ships’, as the Americans called their aircraft, would begin to visit the town.

Tony’s first contact happened one afternoon not long after he’d left school and was working in a nearby stationers and newsagent. ‘Two Yanks,’ he recalls, ‘as we affectionately knew them, came into the shop and picked out a picture postcard of the town costing 1d.’

The American showed the card to the teenager, along with a £1 note asking, ‘Will this be enough?’. When told that he could purchase 240 postcards for his £1 he said with amazement, ‘Gee! Things are cheap in England.’

3 Meeting the locals. An American soldier chats to a lady walking her dog in Minchinhampton Park, in Gloucestershire, one of the many tented campsites in the area. (Photo: courtesy of Stan Dyer)

The prospect of coming to Britain for these young men must have been quite daunting, because, although they largely shared the same language, their culture was very different. In fact, the United States itself is so huge that there were vast cultural differences within its own boundaries. This meant that, as well as coming face to face with the British, they were also meeting American citizens from other parts of the Union for the very first time as well.

Because some of the Americans appeared to be loud, confident, and well paid, compared with British troops, they were generally believed to be men of the world. But in reality, this was often far from the case. For many it was the very first time that they had been away from their homes and indeed for a lot of them the very first time that they had been away from their mothers. This left many of them in a high state of bewilderment, so they were forever looking to be liked by the general populace of Britain. It becomes evident that they did this by being very friendly and over-generous.

Of course there were mixed reactions among the British, who had been at war since September 1939. In Bristol, for instance, Doreen Govan recalls seeing the slogan ‘Go home Yanks’ appearing in prominent places around the city. ‘Rather ungrateful really,’ she reflects, ‘since the reason they were “over here” was ostensibly to help us win the war.’ But for most, there was also a tremendous sense of relief, that at last we had a friend. No longer were the British and her Commonwealth allies fighting alone.

Today, Fairford in Gloucestershire is still associated with the American Air Force, but Jim Jefferes can remember the day when the GIs first arrived. He was in the carpentry classroom at Fairford school, when armoured vehicles began to roll into the town and line up in front of the church. The children were allowed to go outside and watch as the convoy of vehicles, each one bursting with infantry soldiers attired in full battle dress, came to a halt enabling the soldiers to alight.

‘This was the tremendous and irrefutable visual evidence that we were no longer fighting the war on our own,’ he states, ‘but that this huge and powerful country had thrown itself steadfastly behind us. As the tracked vehicles rumbled by the soldiers threw us packs of army field rations. However frugal these rations were, they had a profound effect. For the first time since the beginning of rationing somebody was giving us something freely.’

By four o’clock the town was bustling with American troops and Jim feels that the first impression this gave to the local people was one of positive hope for the future. Their appearance seemed to change the whole atmosphere, as though a dark cloud had somehow been lifted. ‘They were friendly,’ he says, ‘and sympathised with the hardship the country was going through.’ Their music and songs touched the imagination and got people singing.

Olive Martin lived in Hampshire near Tidworth Barracks, where during the years immediately before the war she and her family had observed many changes. However, in the summer of 1942 she recalls how this busy place had become completely deserted. Then, one Sunday afternoon, she and her sisters were making their way home from a service at the Methodist church. They knew a shortcut, the route of which took them across the parade square. Suddenly they saw hundreds of men in strange uniforms playing ball games with unusual gloves on their hands. This was their introduction to both the Americans, and their beloved game of baseball.

The military training areas around Tidworth occupied various locations on both sides of the Hampshire/Wiltshire border, but it’s probable that the men Olive observed that day belonged to the 29th Infantry Division, who arrived at the barracks in early October 1942.

A little later in the war, the American Army established a camp near the Somerset town of Chard, during the build up to D-Day, at which troops began to arrive in preparation for the invasion of Normandy. Bernard Galpin and his friends would sit and watch the work as the camp was being erected, and recalls an incident which captures the confusion that some of the arriving troops must surely have felt. The men had not been informed of their final destination, and they only knew they had reached it, after arriving.

‘I was sitting on a gate at the far end of the camp near a place called Muddy Stile,’ says Bernard, ‘when a convoy of covered trucks arrived. They stopped, and after a while the backs opened up and out jumped hundreds of troops, looking lost.’

One of the soldiers came across to Bernard to ask where they were? He was told ‘Chard’, and looked confused. ‘Where’s Chard?’ he furthered. ‘In Somerset’, was the response. He still looked confused, and after asking where Somerset was and being told, ‘In England’, he shouted to his pals, ‘Hey guys, we’re in England!’

In Dorset, the Americans had their eyes on the little village of Charminster, a few miles from Dorchester. Because of its close proximity to Weymouth, which would feature heavily in the American invasion plans, the site was ear-marked as the location for a large ordnance depot, where fighting and other vehicles would be prepared in readiness for D-Day.

In time, the site would become the home and working base for many troops, but Ivor Peters who lived in the village can still remember the day in 1943 when the first Americans arrived. One weekend Ivor and a couple of his pals were walking through the village, when a strange looking lorry came slowly along the road and turned into a lane that led away from the main street. They knew immediately that the vehicle wasn’t British. It was painted in a drab khaki colour and the large white stars on the side of the cab and the unfamiliar uniforms of its occupants were obvious clues to its origin.

The boys chased the lorry along the lane and, after it had gone a short distance, it pulled up near the gateway into a large field. Several soldiers jumped out of the vehicle and proceeded to unload a sentry box, which they erected next to the gateway. Having done this, most of the men climbed back into the truck before it pulled away again, leaving behind the sentry box and a solitary soldier armed with a rifle. Ivor explains, ‘He was the first American soldier to occupy a site that was to become a large ordnance camp maintaining fighting vehicles, the likes of which we had only seen on the cinema screen.’

But what about the GIs themselves? What was their first impression of Britain? Before the war George Rarey had been a cartoonist and commercial artist. He was drafted into the Army Air Corps and trained as a fighter pilot. He came to England in 1943, and not only kept a cartoon journal of the daily life of his fellow pilots in the 379th Fighter Squadron, 362nd Fighter Group, but sent regular letters home to his recent bride Betty Lou. The consequences of the English weather were often depicted in his cartoons, and his first impression of Britain suitably comes from a letter to his wife sent in November 1943:

We came down from the Scottish coast on an English train that was a dead ringer for a Hitchcock setting. As we passed through the countryside and villages, the natives gave us a warm and much appreciated greeting. An Englishman on the Queen Elizabeth had told us that if we could see the mountains as we approached the British coast, it was a sign that it would soon rain. If we couldn’t see the mountains, it was already raining.

Still today, among those who remember the wartime American servicemen who came to Britain, there is a mixture of thoughts, although it quickly becomes evident that many people had pre-conceived opinions long before they even arrived. Many examples illustrate this point, such as the story of Peter Tamplin, who as a boy was evacuated from London to the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset.

Peter was staying at a place called Creech Grange and daily caught the bus to Stoborough Primary School near Wareham, some two miles away. On the day in question he and his companions were running late and consequently missed the bus. Faced with a two-mile trek they were only too glad to accept a lift from a passing US Jeep. ‘The Jeep already had three or four occupants,’ he explains, ‘plus their luggage, so we were perched on top at the back.’

After what he describes as an ‘exhilarating trip’ they arrived safely at school and only very slightly late. However, on relating the story of their adventure to the teacher, they were given the worst dressing-down of their young lives. For not only had they accepted a lift from strangers, but Americans at that. There was some talk of them having to undergo medical examinations but, after the initial shock had worn off, and the realisation by the teachers that they had not been harmed, the incident was forgotten. ‘Bear in mind,’ explains Peter, ‘that the school was in the hands of aged spinsters.’

Naturally, some of the Americans did live up to their reputation of being brash, and Bill Underwood recalls one occasion when a notable resident of Devizes in Wiltshire was forced into putting bragging Yanks from the 4th Armored Division in their places.

Bill’s father ran a barber’s shop in Devizes and, when the GIs first began to descend on the town, many would come in for a haircut or shave. One day Jim Jennings, the former mayor, was in the shop waiting for a haircut at the same time as a group of American soldiers. Jim was the owner of fairground rides and noted for his colourful use of the English language. Bill explains that the vociferous soldiers were both bragging and patronising, saying what a quaint little town Devizes was, and how everything was so much bigger in America.

4 & 5 George Rarey (left) pictured in front of an example of his nose art painted on the cowling of a P-47 Thunderbolt. (Photo: courtesy of the EAA Museum) George Rarey’s cartoon, which illustrates his squadron’s arrival and disembarkation in Scotland, and subsequent train journey through England. (Illustration: courtesy of Linda Rarey and the EAA Museum)

Eventually, tired of their ranting, Jim Jennings spouted, ‘Let me tell you something, this town has the only gas clock in Europe.’ He pointed to a clock mounted on the wall of the shop. The clock had been positioned over the end of an old gas pipe, which in the days before the shop had been blessed with electricity, had been connected to a gas mantle. The clock proudly displayed the maker’s name, Cole of Devizes and Jim Jennings boasted, ‘See this clock, it works on gas and was made in this very town. I’ll bet there is nothing like that in America?’

To this day, Bill Underwood isn’t sure whether the American soldiers actually believed him or not, but his outburst effectively put them in their place, after which they waited quietly for their turn on the barber’s chair.

BLACK AND WHITE

Once an American citizen had signed on the dotted line for the Draught Board, they were informed that they were now ‘Government Issue’, so these men very quickly became known as GIs. They were also known among the population of Britain as ‘doughboys’. The exact origin of this nickname is unsure and, although it had been widely used to describe the men from the USA who fought in the trenches during the First World War, it appears to date back to the Civil War and beyond. However, in Britain during the Second World War the nickname seemed to suit perfectly as, whenever American troops appeared, it wouldn’t take long for a vehicle to arrive, both cooking and serving doughnuts to the troops. A number of people also suggest that the nickname was used because of the hats worn by some of the GIs.

Vera Anderson was a teenager during the war years living just two miles from the Knettishall airbase in Suffolk, newly acquired by the 388th Bomb Group with their B-17 Flying Fortresses. The first GIs she remembers seeing were two black military policemen. These policemen, whether black or white, were known as ‘snowdrops’ because of the white helmets they wore.

Vera’s experience of seeing black servicemen first certainly wasn’t unique. The reason why this was often the case was because, although black GIs wore the same uniforms as the whites, they were often sent ahead to do manual work with labour battalions, preparing the bases in readiness for the arrival of their white counterparts. Just as the white GIs carried the nickname of ‘doughboys’, the African American soldiers were often labelled with the derogatory name of ‘Jim Crow’s Army’.

On the surface this slice of American inequality might not have been realised by the majority of British citizens, who had little understanding of the depth of racism still evident in some sections of American society. To them, America was regarded as the promised land, a place of freedom and equality for all, so they would little suspect or understand what lay beneath the surface.

6 A ‘doughboy’: Sergeant Al Cunningham. This nickname dates back at least to the Civil War, but the common reason given for its use in Britain was either because of the doughnuts associated with the Yanks, or because of the little hats they wore. (Photo: courtesy of Brenda Gower)

Joy Matthews, who was only nine when the war ended, lived very near the aerodrome at Eye, in Suffolk, sometimes called ‘Brome drome’, and remembers the arrival of the black American work force, which she describes as being ‘shipped in like cattle, to build the dromes’. She doesn’t recall any strong racist feelings being expressed by the local people and, in fact, within a short period of time many friendships were forged. ‘Once they had done the labouring jobs,’ she continues, ‘they were shipped off somewhere else.’

In America, there was still a policy of segregation between whites and blacks, which had evidently filtered into the military. Even in major cities there was a strict rule of segregation when it came to things like transport, entertainment and the use of public buildings, and discrimination was widespread when it came to general social attitudes, particularly in education and employment.

When Americans first began to visit Rugby during the evenings, Mrs E. McPace, who worked in a munitions factory, recalls that the whites and blacks would arrive in town at the same time. However, she says, ‘All hell broke loose’. There were so many bloody confrontations between the two groups, here as elsewhere, that steps had to be taken to keep them apart. This was achieved in one of two ways, either by giving the groups alternate nights in town or by introducing a form of segregation into the pubs. Using Ipswich as an example, the black soldiers were allowed access to the area around the Cattle Market and docks, while the whites had to stick to the other end of town.

Many of these young men served with units like the 923rd all-black regiment, which arrived in Suffolk in 1942. It must have seemed strange, to come from a segregated society into a community where to a large extent people accepted and welcomed them into their homes. This situation was often harder for the white GIs to accept, many of whom couldn’t understand how the British, especially women, could accept black men as their equals. But of course this wasn’t always the case, and there was also a certain amount of bigotry towards black soldiers within the British community as well.

Ivor Strange recalls that, just to the east of Dorchester, the park of a large country house called Kingston Maurward was transformed into a massive petrol dump, where black soldiers carried out most of the menial tasks. These soldiers often went into Dorchester on Saturday nights for relaxation and the first pub in the area to welcome them was The Old House at Home in Fordington High Street, where they enjoyed warm Dorset ales. However, these ales were often very potent and after a few pints one or two of the black soldiers fell foul of Dorchester’s criminal fraternity. They would wait in the dark for staggering GIs and ‘roll them’, the term employed by these local thugs for attacking and robbing them of their wallet, watches, and other valuables.

7 Mr Gibson of the Red Cross inspects a doughnut-making machine at Molesworth in April 1943. Behind him, on the work surface, a tray of doughnuts can be clearly seen. (Photo: courtesy of 303rd Bomb Group Association/George T. Mackin)

Ivor’s sister Nancy did voluntary work at the forces canteen, which was set up in the Old Wesleyan Church Hall in Dorchester’s Durngate Street. This was a place where troops of all denominations, colour and nationality could go if they didn’t wish to frequent the pubs.

One night, as Nancy was coming down the steps to walk home to Fordington, her torch failed. It was a pitch-black night, enhanced by the compulsory blackout. She became slightly anxious when three GIs appeared and offered to escort her safely home to Pound Lane. It wasn’t until they arrived at the top of the lane that she realised all three of her escorts were black GIs, who after asking with a polite ‘are you OK now Ma’am?’ headed back to their camp.

Ivor states that: ‘If our father had known of this, he would have flown into a rage’, underlining the fact that there was a certain amount of bigotry even in his house, which was no doubt typical of the area. As further evidence of this, Mary Hayward provides the following extract from the Norton Fitzwarren Parish Council Minutes, dated 2 October 1944, which clearly show that the parishioners were concerned about the presence of black soldiers on their doorsteps. At Norton Fitzwarren near Taunton in Somerset the Americans had taken over and enlarged what was already a stores depot known as G50.

Italian Prisoners-of-War and Coloured Troops – After a discussion on the dangers of mixed troops being at liberty to roam our streets and fields at will; resolved to wait a while to see what action can be taken by the military, and in the hope that their stay will not be of long duration.

From this extract, it sounds as though the people of Norton Fitzwarren wanted to have the black American troops incarcerated alongside the Italian prisoners-of-war. No doubt this discussion was born from a desire to keep them off the streets of this quiet Somerset village, and protect the local people from whatever threat they obviously considered them to pose.

As a little girl, Joy Caddy also grew up in Fordington near Dorchester and remembers it being a very busy place during the latter war years. At the time Dorchester was surrounded by American camps, relying heavily no doubt on Kingston Maurward for their fuel requirements. Remember also, that there was a large ordnance camp at Charminster on the other side of the town, so traffic was regularly travelling between the two.

The US Military Police were constantly on point-duty at Fordington crossroads, as lorries, Jeeps and all manner of military vehicles rumbled past the front door of Joy’s house. She remembers how these men would occasionally knock on the door, asking to use the toilet, as they were often on duty for long periods of time. Her father, a painter and decorator by trade and wartime special constable, struck up a strong friendship with one of the MPs, a man named John Smith from Cleveland, Ohio, who would always bring him Camel cigarettes.

Joy herself owes a special thanks to one of the black servicemen for teaching her to ride a bicycle. The period in question coincided with the arrival of her first bike, and her mother took her to a quiet road to practise. A passing soldier, seeing that her mother was having difficulties with this task, announced, ‘I’ll learn her to ride a bike.’ Joy goes on to explain, ‘and he did!’

Also at this time Joy’s parents had taken in a five-year-old evacuee called Johnny. One day the boy said to her mother, ‘Auntie can I bring a friend home to tea’. Naturally the reply was, ‘Yes dear, of course you can’. Expecting to greet another five-year-old boy from school, imagine their surprise as Joy relates, ‘Johnny came in later with the biggest black man I’d ever seen’.

Before 1943, the term ‘Colour Bar’, hadn’t really been used in Cornwall, but it became more common as different elements of the US First Army arrived, and everywhere whites and blacks were accommodated in segregated camps. This situation went directly against the wishes of both President Roosevelt and General Eisenhower (Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Forces), who had ordered and issued circular letters to all senior American commanders that there was to be no discrimination or segregation. But however well intentioned this order was, it was basically unworkable. First of all, there was a bigoted attitude among senior army officers, who had a poor opinion of black American troops, believing them to be incapable of combat service. Then of course there were the men themselves, who had a habit of fighting each other, whenever the opportunity arose.

According to Bernard Peters who lived in Truro, the way the black and white GIs were kept in different camps, and had different nights off, astounded local people, who found it puzzling and disappointing. In Truro, the Red Cross had no option but to provide separate clubs, while pubs and other clubs were forced to operate segregation in terms of offering the two groups different nights. He recalls fistfights, stabbings and even shootings, when the two groups were initially allowed to mix. From his memory of the time, Bernard puts the fault mainly down to the white GIs. ‘They hated the way our girls took to the black soldiers, and were very surprised that the English did not resent them.’

Although this all paints a very depressing picture of segregation and racial tension, there were certainly instances when white and black GIs were billeted together, and readily tolerated one another. At Gravesend in Kent for instance, the mother of Julie Baker, Mrs Hinkley, who was a young widow with three children and her own mother at home to support, accepted several soldiers into her home. Julie states that, ‘the money paid to her was handy’.

At one point Mrs Hinkley had two white Americans staying with her, Corporals Carl Fisher and Seymour Katz, with a third man expected. When the third man arrived, he was first seen at the home of a neighbour, accompanying two other soldiers who were to be billeted at that address. The neighbour’s son came rushing in to announce, ‘Your American has arrived and he’s black’.

Having heard about racial tensions within the army, and the policy of segregation back in the States, Julie’s mother became worried about how her other guests would take to this news. She went and spoke to them, explaining about their new housemate, who was a sergeant. When informed of this fact they expressed the view that, ‘If he is a sergeant, he must be a good chap’. ‘And indeed’ agrees Julie, ‘he was.’

Sergeant Evans soon became a good friend to the family, helping out around the house, even helping to look after grandma. In fact all three became close friends, but their advice to Julie, who admits to having been a very fussy eater, to eat her vegetables with sweets obtained from the PX club, the American equivalent of the NAAFI, would undoubtedly be frowned upon today.

Back at Knettishall, Vera Anderson goes on to note, that after the black workforce had departed, it wasn’t long before the white GIs made themselves known at the airfield, and her first impression of them was being ‘full of spirit, quite loud, and very friendly. They were very young, good-looking and wore smart uniforms.’ They appeared to have plenty of money and seemed to chew gum endlessly.

‘According to them,’ muses Vera, ‘they all came from Texas.’ She thinks this was probably because, in their opinion, the English had only ever heard of Texas. This misconception once again came courtesy of the cowboy movies that were so fashionable at the time. Trying to explain the location of Anoka, Minnesota, or Fayetteville, Arkansas, must have seemed like hard work. To some extent she was probably right, and certainly many British children similar to Tony Blades thought of all Americans as being like their favourite Western heroes, and America itself a vast wilderness roamed by huge herds of buffalo. The fact that a high percentage of these young men came from some of the most modern and sophisticated cities in the world would have been unthinkable to a young mind.

8 Black GIs. A group of black soldiers who were camped in fields opposite St Agnes railway station and first came to Mount Hawke in Cornwall to sing in the chapel. (Photo: courtesy of Lorna Rundle)

9 White GIs. A group of First Army soldiers in Yeovil dressed in their walking-out order. They wore the same uniform as the black soldiers, but attitudes towards them were sometimes very different. (Photo: courtesy of Graham Toms)