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This is a story about Able Bodied Seaman Stanley Dawson and his experiences during his seven days leave when he visited Schenectady in New York State in 1942. It has been added by a volunteer on behalf of the contributor and they have been made aware of the 大象传媒 People鈥檚 War website鈥檚 House Rules.

As far as I know he just wanted to see the sights and in war time I think British sailors just wanted to help each other out 鈥� he was by himself but would talk to anyone because he was that kind of person and it was two of his fellow sailors who said why don鈥檛 you go upstate to Schenectady?

He hitched a lift and came to this little place all by himself. He got out and walked around but because he was dressed in his naval uniform he attracted attention immediately and people got chatting to him, people took him into their own homes, a family was happy to give him bed and board - they gave him loads of food. He was particularly impressed by the quantity of food that they had available because obviously they didn鈥檛 have rationing in the States, and these huge great platefuls of fried breakfasts and things like that which he hadn鈥檛 had for years because he鈥檇 been at sea for sometime. People gave him money and people gave him a doll to bring home for his daughter [my sister] and they were just extraordinarily kind.

The local paper in Schenectady wrote an article about him and wrote in language that would have been 鈥楢merican鈥�, which were not necessarily his words but for me it makes fascinating reading. I think it鈥檚 a wonderful article:

鈥淔ortified with several American dollars he went a downtown to a State Street department store to purchase something for his wife whom he hadn鈥檛 seen for several months and his baby daughter whom he had never seen.鈥�

They quote him as saying: 鈥淏arring any accidents I鈥檒l get it back to them and they鈥檒l cry for joy!鈥� Somehow I can鈥檛 quite hear him saying that, but I get the gist!

I think he must have hitched a lift back to his ship 鈥� people in those days always gave lifts to service people 鈥� anyone who was in uniform was picked up immediately with no questions 鈥� and an English uniform in particular because it would have been quite unusual.

I believe when he was in New York he went to Radio City which he though was wonderful and I know he met Benny Goodman at one point whilst he was there; he also played alongside the Artie Shaw Band. I think he mentioned meeting Peggy Lee and Gladys Cooper and so he mixed in jazz circles because he was known to be a jazz musician in his own right.

As a result of Stanley鈥檚 naval service during the war he went all over the world 鈥� South America, India, Celon (Sri Lanka as it is now).

I have one wonderful story from Bombay, his ship was there for whatever reason and he saw another troop ship come in and saw some soldiers disembarking and he suddenly saw a familiar face and he realised one of the soldiers coming down the gangway was none other than his own brother in law! And so being the kind of person my dad was, he called out across the gangway 鈥淥i! Anyone here from Ilford!?鈥� So you can imagine his brother in law鈥檚 amazement when he sees a close relative in Bombay of all places!

He didn鈥檛 really tell me too much about his war time experiences 鈥� everyone served in the war, it was no big shakes, people didn鈥檛 boast about it 鈥� it was taken for granted. He did talk about the incredibly high seas, he did try to describe the size of the sea and the swell and rough seas in the Atlantic. He used to climb to the crow鈥檚 nest; he wasn鈥檛 afraid of heights and would climb right to the top, even in rough seas. He would sleep out on deck at night鈥� but he never really talked about anything unpleasant, I think it was something they really wanted to put behind them really.

Before the war he had run a dance band (his musical ability playing saxophone and clarinet meant he was given a chance to perform with the Royal Marines during his war time service). I have photographs of him with his slicked back hair 鈥� in 1935 they had a band called The Californians. In the mid-thirties he used to play at the Ilford Palais, one of the big dance halls in the area, and a young girl came up and said 鈥淐an I sing in your band please?鈥� and he said, 鈥渟orry love, we don鈥檛 have girl singers.鈥� She was none other than Vera Lynn!! She was only 16 at the time and he turned her down!

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