International Friendships

Rudolph, Prisoner of War

My Aunt and Uncle had a prisoner of war working for them called Rudolph, he would have been about 20 years...

"Got Any Gum Chum"

I lived next door to a bakery which I think was called Blamche's in Belmont Road, Hereford where there...

The Apple box

They must have been travelling light..... there was chocolate, apples , oranges and all manner of goodies...

Exploding Cheese

I lived in Bridgwater during the war - my dad had moved there from Coventry when British Cellophane started...

POWs, Mum and me

Of course the adults got involved and after the war was over supervision of the POWs was more relaxed and...

Happy Reminiscences

Dad kept chickens to feed the family during the war... One day we sat down for our Sunday dinner, mother...

The Day a Bomb Dropped on Our Neighbour

When I was about four, a bomb was dropped on the bungalow next door... The American soldiers billetted at...

Potato Picking

Towards the end of the war, the German and Italian POWs were allowed out under escort to work on the local...

Childhood Memories of War

Mary Ferguson lived in Gailes, near Irvine during the war and remembers bombs trying to hit the trains...

American Military Hospital

After a short spell working in Norwich I got a job working at Wymondham Railway Station in the goods...

German POW Staying within British Household

During Christmas later that year I had a letter from my sister telling me that our mother was having a...

Americans in Manchester

I grew up in Manchester during the war, and have recollections of being carried at night and seeing the...

Memories of US Troops Around Morton

Everybody had a pump, with lovely, ice-cold water, and this would be decanted into the bowser and taken to...

Hands Across the Water - German POW Friend

When the war ended and my uncle was released, one of these parcels was still in transit and somehow was...

Beer Rationing (extract from "Hard Times and Humour: Tasburgh 1939-1970")

.......the "Horse Shoes" public house was occupied by Charles Hales, early war work saw a change of...

Making Money from the Yanks by Leon Baldock

There was a way for us kids to make money during the war when the Yanks were in town....

Childhood Memories (J.Errington)

Today's children are told not to talk to strangers but in those days children were told not to touch...

Assorted Memories of Hertfordshire

I did night work at the munitions factory at Waltham Abbey for about a year, leaving when I became...

Ireland, North and South — The Yanks!

One of them was a Nurse, and the other worked in the office. But they had great friends, and they used to...

Vauxhall Motors

We ate in the Vauxhall canteen. I worked for Vauxhall until January 1946, when I left of my own accord...

American Troops

They were overpaid and had money to impress the girls whereas the local lads didn't... It was very...

Living under occupation - dentistry

I lay on the kitchen table, the dentist asked for a fine kitchen sieve and a flannel, and dropped ether or...

Wartime Romance

I have fond memories of Bill, an American Airforce Military Policeman who was stationed at Gosfield...

Nicking Donuts

My Dad was ten, full of beans but lacking donuts. Donut tummy ache afterwards but they tasted sweet Dad...

A Kind Thought

My grandparents, James and Edith Dearden, managed a pub in Wetherby, the Angel, during the War. There were...

More Memories of a Wartime Childhood

After the Americans left to fight in Europe, German and Italian prisoners of war were brought from a train...