大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by a volunteer from Fivemiletown Primary School on behalf of R.H. Lowry and has been added to the site with his permission.

Having been born in 1932 I was too young to fight in the Second World War. None-the-less I retain vivid memories of events that occurred during the years of 1939 鈥� 1945, memories that are centred around Fivemiletown and the army camp that was built in the woods and grounds of our house.

It must have been shortly after the start of 1940 that the camp was built. It consisted of 50 or 60 Nisson Huts scattered about through the woods which gave camouflage from the air. Each hut held about 20 soldiers, so there were 1000 soldiers in the area. They trained in shooting and physical fitness over a period of 3 or 4 months, then left for the front and a new lot arrived. To begin with it was the English army and then, in about 1943 the Americans began to arrive and things really started to warm up as far as social life in Fivemiletown was concerned. The weekly dances turned from rather quiet affairs to Rock and Roll and Jazz. There were musicians among the soldiers who provided their own bands; singers and crooners who sang, and actors who put on their own shows. The one important rule was that all soldiers had to be back in camp by midnight, so when it was getting near that time any bicycle left unattended was 鈥渂orrowed鈥� to enable a soldier to be on time; and the owner could always find their bikes against the hedge outside the camp gates.

The soldiers came regularly to meals with my Grandparents and fascinated us with their broad American accents and their stories of home. The only trouble was with our butter ration. We all had our own butter pots and into them went, each week, a minute amount of butter which had to last for 7 days. It was hard to keep smiling as we saw our weekly ration going, on one bit of bread, into an American鈥檚 mouth.

As the invasions of Europe got closer so the pace of training got faster and the leisure time for the soldiers got less, until suddenly, in June 1944, all the soldiers were gone, the camp was empty, and life returned to normal.

Still, 60 years later, we sometimes get an old soldier, or maybe some of their family, coming to see what the place was like where they trained for war, so very many years ago and of which, one hopes, they retained many happy memories.

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