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This story has been written onto the ´óÏó´«Ã½ People's War site by CSV Storygatherer, Pam McCarthy, on behalf of Bernard Peters the author. They fully understand the terms and conditions of the site.

The American Marines and the Seabees loved our healthy fresh Cornish girls - they came, they saw and they conquered. It was said throughout the UK that the GIs were ‘Over here, over paid and over sexed’ but I don’t think so, no more so than our boys.

The Yanks were not slow in coming forward, nothing ventured, nothing gained type of attitude. Whereas the Englishman is not so brash, he’ll get there, but in his own quiet time. I am not trying to be disrespectful to the American troops, I admired them; most of them were not married, not amongst the teenagers, the 18, 19 and 20 year olds. They probably had left at home their bobbysoxer girl-friends. They had no time to waste, a few weeks and 9000 plus would be above the Normandy beach, no longer alive.

Whilst they were here we did what we could for them. Hundreds of households fed them, partied them, giving them a home from home. The American nurses were forbidden to marry foreigners, when on active service. Any problems and they could be court-martialled and sent back to the States. Near the GIs camps were notices that read, ‘Civilians are forbidden to loiter, or to talk to troops.’ This didn’t stop us from pestering them for chewing gum or a sweet.

The sentries on duty at Malpas Park camp would chat to us when they were bored; besides they could see that we were just schoolboys. We followed one Yank down Malpas Road who was smoking a big cigar. Before he got to the camp entrance he threw it to one side where it rolled over the pavement edge dropping down onto the sandy shingle of Truro river. The tide was out. Batty jumped down and retrieved the half finished cigar butt and we walked past the camp, taking turns to have a puff. When we got to Sunny Corner we climbed on top of the swimming hut, hiding away to smoke some Woodbines which Dinky had got from a cigarette machine (in those days they were 5 for 2p). Sitting astride the changing hut roof Fuzzy persisted in smoking the cigar butt, until it made him dizzy and he fell off onto the concrete floor.

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