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This is a story told me by my father, Sydney Brooks (1917-92). He was unfit for military service but was called up into a reserved occupation, and joined the Home Guard. He was a member of the North Staffs regiment and was stationed at Uttoxeter.
After a miserable start, he got new digs with a woman whom I believe was called Mrs Cox, with whom he got on very well. I believe she was married with a young family and that she had other lodgers. After a while, an American was also billeted there. My father and the American became friendly, and, like most Americans, this one was happy to dabble in the black market, which meant that Mrs Cox’s denizens all ate well. Why the American was billeted in the town and not accommodated in the nearby U.S. military camp is something my father never explained and perhaps never knew, but he remembered most clearly the American’s odd habit, or so he thought, of spreading marmalade on his kippers. To our modern way of thinking, the Americans’ liking for eating sweet and savoury on the same plate is no longer surprising, but my father, a very conventional man, thought this one was eccentric.
As a sidelight to that story, my father-in-law, Herbert ("Bertie") Sykes (1902-77), who was just young enough to be called up into the R.A.F., remembered being stationed at or near Wappenham in Northamptonshire. The canteen often served rice pudding. It was particularly appreciated by the small number of Indian aircraftsmen who were also stationed there because they could eat it with lashings of gravy. It was their favourite meal.
There were no concessions, in those days, to exotic tastes in food, and non-nationals had to do the best they could with what was provided.

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