Читать книгу Bride of the War - Doris Alma (Taylor) - Страница 5

In 1943 the American troops started landing in Liverpool, we didn’t know it at the time, but they where preparing for the invasion of Europe. A camp was set up on the Aintree racecourse where I had watched the Grand National race as a child. The King and Queen and Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret drove past on their way to the Royal box, all of us children lined up along the street and waved our little union jack flags. We where thrilled when the princesses hung out of the back of the limousine and waved to us.

Another camp was set up about ten minutes from my house in Kirby. The American soldiers filled a void for all of us young girls, as all of the British boys were away fighting. The British soldiers were fighting in Italy and Burma, and my uncle Jim was with General Montgomery's troops fighting in the desert. They were called the Desert Rats, and he was in the tank corps. He and three more of my uncles, my mum’s brothers, were all in the army. We were invited to the camp dances since the GIs couldn’t dance with each other.

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One night I met a shy 19-year old named Tony, and we began going out to movies; after a few dates, he asked if he could meet my family. I had discouraged it, because my father had forbidden me to go near any soldiers; I was 16 at the time. Of course, being a teenager I didn’t listen. One night on the way home, we were about to board the streetcar, when I saw my mum and Dad ahead of me. I tried to duck back but my Dad saw me and said, “you, get on this streetcar, right now”. We rode to the end of the line, where I would walk home and Tony and any other G.I.s would ride an army truck back to the camp.

As we got off, my Dad said, “all of you, back to the house.” I was scared and told Tony to go, and I would face the music alone; he said, “no, I’m going with you,” so Tony, his friend and my friend all walked back to the house with me. My mum and dad went in first, my dad opened the door and I introduced everyone. Tony put his hand out and said, “pleased to meet you sir”, my dad was very impressed, not only was Tony polite but he was very smart, uniform pressed, buttons polished, shoes shined. My poor little mum was a nervous wreck, busily making tea in the kitchen, waiting for the fireworks to start, we all sat down and had a short visit, and Tony and his friend had to get back to camp. After that, Tony was a frequent visitor to our house.

When the commanding officer was told that soldiers were invited for dinner at a local home, the guys were told they could bring food since our rations didn’t go very far. One day, Tony pulled up in front of our house, stopped too quickly and ended up with a dozen broken eggs on the back seat of the jeep. That was the first time I saw my mother almost cry; we where only allowed one egg a week on our ration books. Another time my mum managed to get a roast from the local butcher; she babied it all afternoon in the fire oven; we all waited in great anticipation. When she sliced it, there was a fist-sized lump of fat in the middle, then we all almost cried. That had used up six ration books, and to think that it had made it through the U-boats from Argentina. Tony also brought a turkey for my mum to cook; my dad and brother ate so much they were sick, they were not used to eating so much meat.

My brother Bobby who was 14 and sister Margie who was 12 got along great with Tony. He was like part of the family; he and his friends would kid with them that if the Barrage Balloons where cut loose, England would sink into ocean. They were huge, inflated silver balloons that had cables hanging down, designed to snag enemy planes that tried to get through, they worked pretty good during the air raids.

We had a great New Year’s Eve party at my Grandma’s house, Tony and some of his friends came, my uncle Harold played the piano, and we all had a sing-song.