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My father had received his calling up papers and was deemed medically fit for the Royal Navy. He was sent initially to great Malvern and then to Dartmouth in Devon. His rank was First Class Stoker; he wore a propeller insignia on his arm. His duties at Dartmouth were to maintain the engines on the motor torpedo boats that operated in the English Channel.
Americans were now stationed at Codford. Boyton manor had been requisitioned as an American army officers quarters and the entrance gates near our house were guarded by the American military police.
As everything was rationed including sweets, we were always asking the American soldiers if they had any and more often than not, we were given chewing gum. I recall on one occasion, that the officer we approached didn’t have any gum, so he gave us a large cigar. As boys we were delighted, we went off to our raft, lit up, laid back and prepared to enjoy it. What a surprise, within minutes we were all violently sick and to this day none of us ever smoked again.
Needless to say, as the weeks went by, we became very friendly with the American soldiers, they were only young men and away from home. In their spare time they came to visit us and talked about America and how they lived. In particular one called Joe Triano. He was Mexican and came from a very poor background. His speciality and quite a marvel to us boys, was his ability to catch fish with his bare hands, ‘tickling’ them is the phrase. During his brief fishing trips in summer, he emptied the river of trout.

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