大象传媒

I remember the mugs and jam-jars the troops used to drink out of on their way to the barracks 鈥� and off to war. I鈥檝e drunk out of a jam-jar myself, when I went up North on leave.

Around Kirkham, we had soldiers, airmen and sailors stationed, and myself and my friend worked in our local W.R.V.S. canteen, serving the forces. I still have my certificate, given to me by the W.R.V.S.

I also worked on munitions for 2 years, taking with me on my shift each day my gas mask and tin helmet. It wasn鈥檛 all work, though; we had dances regularly. We used to go to the market for pieces of material to make blouses for the dance nights.

We had forces billeted out of camp, and also evacuees, and I remember when the bombers came over following the river Ribble, we all used to hide. My father and some of the neighbours were air-raid wardens and special police constables, and most local families invited the forces into their homes for a meal of whatever we had; although we were rationed, I enjoyed scrambled egg 鈥� made from powdered eggs 鈥� and sometimes macaroni and cheese on toast. We made a lot of friends this way, although some of the lads went off to fight and never came back.

A lot of my friends married soldiers, sailors and airmen 鈥� some of them Polish, some American. I have friends who still live in America to this day, who occasionally visit 鈥渂ack home鈥�. My friend married a soldier and her sister married a G.I., and they had to exchange outfits for each wedding. Special occasions were hard to manage: for my own 21st birthday party, my mother had to stockpile things 鈥� and I could only have 6 guests.

For all the troubles, I managed to travel lots of miles on leave to all sorts of different places 鈥� dancing all the way!!

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