大象传媒

I was a six year old in May 1944, living in Coburg Road,Dorchester,Dorset,UK. ( Coburg Road is on the outskirts of Dorchester, near the main road to Weymouth.) My recollections are of soldiers - American or Canadian, parked outside our house in army trucks. The trucks lined the straight road, as far as one could see. (I'm so sorry I was never told which country or unit they were from. Maybe my mother never knew.)
We children were given sweets: fruit sweets with a hole in the middle, were a great favourite. One unfortunate little boy was given a packet of sweets, which turned out to be reconstituted army rations to be used in emergencies. Having consumed his 'sweets', he was very ill! Our mother told my sister and me not to accept any more sweets, but I just inspected my gifts with greater care.
As we had an empty garage, the soldiers used to use it at night, to brew up coffee, play cards and listen to the radio. When they left, a sack of coffee was left as a thank you. Ground coffee was not something housewives were used to in 1944 England. Mum poured boiling water onto the grounds. I was not impressed by the taste.

I don't know how long the forces were in the road. There were no goodbyes. One day the trucks had gone and although the radio must have given news after the D-Day landings, it made no impact on me.

Dorchester had escaped any bombs. Eventually our father came back from guarding Italian prisoners of war in Durham, and I had a new baby brother born in 1947.

Sixty years on I have a child's eye view of young men in Army uniform. I knew they were part of "the war", but it is only now that I think with gratitude of those soldiers thousands of miles from their homes, camped in Coburg road, waiting for the offensive. The D-Day landings were successful due to our allies, many of whom lost their lives or were injured. I owe my lifestyle, and that of my children and grandchildren to these men.

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