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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. They fully understand the terms and conditions of the site.

Our girls weren’t slow in getting to know the Americans, often at the Doughnut Dug-out or in the dance halls. Moresk Drill Hall was popular and Tremorvah, where we would pile in for the Swing Band sessions. St John’s Ambulance Hall was also used for dances. We got to know new music - swing, jazz and jiving to One O’clock Jump, In the Mood and Skyliner. To see our girls being lifted and thrown around in a jive session was something else, with the Yanks adopting awkward stances, spinning the girl, swinging her on his hips. Sedate ballroom dancing was out of it.

It seems that torches, i.e. flashlights, caused some consternation - always evident because of blackout procedure at night time, there being no street nor house lights. The English soldier kept an ordinary shaped torch in his wide thigh pocket, but the Yank kept his torch stuck in his back pocket, where it poked out, being a P shape. I remember Barbara dancing ballroom style getting quite embarrassed with an English soldier, not realising it was a torch in his thigh pocket! Also, one of the WRACs in a quickstep said to the man, ‘Do you mind taking that torch out of your pocket?’. And he said, ‘Lady, that ain’t no torch.’ ‘Waal’ she said, ‘If you’ve got the right paraphernalia, you can take the pants right off of me.’ Such was the freedom and attitude of war time.

At a Christmas party with the troops, WRACs and ATS balloons were blown up and let go to fly around the room. I thought they were strange looking balloons until it was explained to me that they were ‘Frenchies’, i.e. Durex - my first encounter with such ‘paraphernalia’. In war time anything goes.

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