大象传媒

Romance in wartime was always a risky and fragile affair. One never knew whether there would be a tomorrow at all and therefore so many young people grabbed any fleeting chance of happiness they could. Of course there were those older folk whose tongues would wag and accusatory fingers would be pointed; but looking at that period from the viewpoint of another and perhaps more sympathetic younger generation, who could really blame the youngsters of that time who were of fighting age (service personnel and civilians alike) for kicking over the traces when they were under such incredible pressures.

My mother Peggy experienced losing a boyfriend at Dunkirk and a fiance (who was either Australian or a New Zealander) in the RAF who was killed over Germany. She also had friends who married young and in so many cases either the husband was killed in action or posted overseas for several years without home leave. Being married so young took a toll on those couples in being parted so long and living separate lives; people who are still in the process of growing up can change in character quite considerably. One of Peggy's friends, Meg came round to see her one day in a very overwrought state. Meg has had a quick wartime wedding and then her husband was posted overseas and they had not seen each other for at least three years. During this time Meg had become far more independent and had made her own life both at work and socially - and now her husband was coming home and she realised she hardly knew him at all, in fact they were virtual strangers. In tears Meg kept repeating to Peggy, "I don't want to see him, we don't know each other at all!" Hearing this Peggy was naturally sympathetic, but at the same time she was thanking her lucky stars that after the heartbreak she had gone through she had made the sensible decision not to get tied down to just anybody, just because there was a war on.

As outlined in "Peggy's War" my mother had joined the American Red Cross and got to know quite a lot of Americans. Of course many GIs got entangled with members of the oldest profession and any halfway respectable girl who went out with a Yank unfortunately tended to have the same epithet thrown against them. There were plenty of GIs who would spin fantastic stories about themselves and America which would be swallowed hook, line and sinker by the more innocent girls who went with them - who invariably ended up very much sadder and wiser, shall we say? At the other end of the scale my future ma-in-law Mary, who was a young teenager in Watford, disliked Americans and would never acknowledge their existence. Mary thought they were loud-mouthed, pushy and overbearing, always thinking they could buy one's favours with candy and nylons. She knew her two elder sisters Netta and Babs were free and easy with Americans, but Mary was cut from a different bolt of cloth; and besides, her fierce Scots-Irish father John Meikle would probably have locked his youngest and favourite daughter up if she had gone out with Yanks.

On a much happier note, I can record that Peggy and Mary made peaceful post-war marriages, to Bob King and Doug Matthews - instead of hurried pressurised war-time matches.

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