大象传媒

This story has been written to the 大象传媒 People's War site by CSV Storygatherer Coralie, on behalf of Gwendolyn Downey. The story has been added to the site with her permission and Gwendolyn fully understands the terms and conditions of the site.

The first time I saw a GI was when I was walking down the main street back home. I was 10 or 11 at the time, and didn't realise that some of the Yankee Military Police wore tin helmets not that dissimilar from the German ones. I was so alarmed at the sight of this Yank, and thought "we've been invaded by Hitler's lot". I soon discovered it was a GI 'invasion'!

The Yanks were a great bunch, and so very friendly. The hotels at St Luke's Road (near my street) were all occupied by GI's, so they were around my area a lot. Their jeeps used to whizz at high speed along our 'one time' quiet street. Not many civilians had cars in those days, but horses and carts were still used! Some of the GI's used to acquire bikes and it made us kids laugh the way they pedalled along on these. They stuck their knees outwards as if they were pedalling on the outsides of their feet. We thought this highly amusing!

I was too young at 11 to be romantically interested in the Yanks, but they were very, very popular with the local females. Not all the latter were single! I saw quite a few married women I knew hand-in-hand with a GI at Rock Walk! The population rose alarmingly around that time. Most of the husbands were abroad or away in the Forces. It was a case of 'the cat's away...'. I was an observant child and didn't miss much.

It was very quiet in my area when the GI's left. There were camps in many areas of Torquay, which had a lot more green areas on the outskirts then. I'm sure many of those GI's lost their lives on the Normandy beachs. I shall never forget how those lively chaps brightened up my hometown. It had been a long war and the GI 'invasion' gave us a lift.

Some time ago, I composed the following poem about my GI memories.

The Friendly Invasion

The GI's are in town girls,
They're friendly, fast and free,
So out with comb and curling tongs
And 'Evening in Paree',
I must look good for Rocky,
He's full of 'Southern Charm'
With smouldering eyes and flashing teeth
And tattoos on each arm!

The GI's are in town girls,
Oh, what a thrilling sight,
So slap the paint and powder on
And live it up tonight,
My mother says "no dating",
So I must be discreet -
And out the back door quietly slip,
My dashing love to meet!

The GI's are in town girls,
But soon will come the day
When all these warm, romantic guys
Will sadly march away,
So "make hay while the sun shines",
(Too soon we'll see the rain),
The Yanks are here, so have a ball,
The chance won't come again!

Gwen Downey

Another of my many, still vivid, memories of the War years, is of an accident which occurred on Tor Abbey Sands. A large gun situated on Corbyn Head exploded and caught fire. That was a terrible tragedy, with quite a few Home Guard personnel losing their lives.

I was on the sands at the time!

I was 6 years old when the war began in 1939 and was at Senior School when peace came - a long time in a child's life.

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