The war news was not good early in 1942. The Americans had of course come into the conflict following the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbour, but we were not yet feeling the practical benefits. We did feel morally supported though. I think our generation will always feel warmly towards the Americans. Later, I was to see long lines of machines at the Royal Ordnance Factory, each with a plaque on which was written, ‘Strength For The Free World From Cleveland Ohio U.S.A.
This story is personal though. You can read about the war in the history books. Noel was in the army, stationed at Parkhall camp, just outside Oswestry. He was put in the pay office, and remained there throughout the war. Joe Boote, Kathleen’s husband was in the Coldstream Guards, and at this time, stationed in Frome in Somerset.
Stan said that we would go down for the weekend. He was allowed some petrol for traveling as he was “Working in food,’ he also had a few ‘contacts’. Joe rang Kathleen and said that he would meet us ‘near the traffic lights’ in Bath. “Funny,” said Stan, “there must only be one set.” Of course by the tine we had found the third set of traffic lights, we were all calling Joe nasty names. We did find him eventually and he was standing near some traffic lights. These happened to be quite near to the camp and were a recognized meeting point among the guardsmen. Typical of Joe, he had not thought that we might not know that! We found rooms in a country cottage for Stan, and Kath and me. Joe had to be back in camp early in the evening. There was an enormous Bottle of ‘Flag’ sauce on the table and the landlady made us egg and chips, with bread and butter. It was delicious. The chips were like pre-war chips, and a little team of resident hens in the large garden had obviously been doing their best for the war effort
We had to return on the Monday, which must have been a holiday, as all the shops were closed. We had a ‘proper’ breakfast of eggs and bacon to see us on our way. We stopped in Worcester on the way home, but could only get awful wartime snacks at a cafe there. I enjoyed the break from routine and was so used to spending my days with Stan; it was a happy time.
Many Sundays we used to take Nora to see Noel at Oswestry, they were not married but were planning their wedding for October. One Sunday evening we had collected Noel from camp and found a pub ‘open’. Lots of them were only open for a few nights or just for the last hour. However when we got inside, people were sitting round a large table eating sandwiches and some were having what looked like trifle! “Oh Stanley,” said Kathleen, who was very fond of food, and therefore suffering mightily because of rationing, ‘I’ll have trifle, I’d like sandwiches as well but if you can only have one thing I’ll have trifle.” Nora and Noel and I said we would have whatever we were ‘allowed’ It would have been bearable if the landlord had not laughed! Stan made his request for ‘whatever these people are having’. The landlord just laughed and said, “This is a wedding party, they’ve all contributed to it from their own rations. Apart from the disappointment, we all felt extremely foolish as we slunk out.