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When President Roosevelt died, the Samstrule was docked in Bermuda. Severe gales in the Atlantic had caused the ship to run out of fuel, and so the Samstrule left the convoy to spend a few hours in St George to replenish supplies. That was the last convoy that Geoffrey was to see. From there the Samstrule went to Baytown in Texas. On the morning of May 8th 1945- VE Day- she left Baytown and went up river to Houston, where she docked about four o鈥檆lock in the afternoon.

Waiting on the quayside was an official from the British consulate in Houston. He invited the entire crew to a party at the consulate that evening. Nurses from the local hospitals had been asked to come as dancing partners and act as hostesses. Whoopee!!! Astern of the Samtrule was another British ship- but she had an Indian crew, so only a few of the white officers from that ship attended the party.

Each crewmember and each girl were given plastic tokens, about eight each, which could be exchanged for bottles of beer. Geoffrey found at the end of the evening that he had more tokens than when he started- and he had used several of them. This was because some of the girls gave him their tokens. Two of them, in particular, a Miss Lawanda Simpson and Miss Doris Moore. Each crew member also got a present- Geoffrey was given a beautiful sports jacket- black and white chequered- it was a good quality piece of clothing. It lasted him many years.

After the party Geoffrey asked Lawanda for a date, he would take her to the cinema. She agreed and two days later, Geoffrey made his way to the local picture house. It was pouring with rain- in fact the rain was so heavy, that it was difficult to see very far ahead. Geoffrey thought to himself, "She will never come in this weather"- but to his surprise she did. She was wearing bright red wellington boots, a scarlet raincoat with hood to match and carrying a red umbrella. Geoffrey thought she looked absolutely stunning. When he said he did not really expect her to turn out in such atrocious weather she answered cheerily "This is nothing- you should see it when it really rains in Texas". They went into the cinema, and afterwards Geoffrey walked her to her address. The rain had abated by then, he kissed her on the cheek, said "Goodbye" and returned to his ship. Fifty years on the memory lingers still.

Geoffrey Walker

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