大象传媒

During the latter part of the war the army took over part of my grandfather's farm as a live ammo training area. This meant that numerous different units came to stay in barracks which had been built in one of the fields while they trained. Normally a unit's arrival would be preceded a few days before by a courtesy visit from one of its officers, who would give my grandparents the basic information on what sort of things to expect and a rough idea of the number men to be expected (which would allow for such things as the removal of sheep from particular parts of the farm). When the soldiers arrived, they were normally encouraged to shop at the local shops and support the community that was hosting them as they trained.

One day, a fortnight or so after the last unit had left the farm my grandmother walked into the village to do some shopping. She was only away for a couple of hours, but when she returned she was very (unpleasantly) surprised when an American soldier stepped out to stop her going down her own driveway and directed a bayonette towards her face with the words: "I'm sorry Ma'am, but you can't come down here".
She replied that she was certainly going to go down her own driveway and asked what the sentry thought he was doing threatening her on her own property, particularly as she had had no prior warning of the arrival of any American troops. The sentry merely repeated his statement. My grandmother was determined that a surly American soldier was not going to get the better of her and began to make quite a fuss.
A minute of two later, an American officer appeared to find out what was going on. On hearing what my grandmother was saying he said that he was sorry but it was not U.S. army policy to give prior warning of their arrival, even in friendly territory and added that the 'training base' was being occupied by the U.S. army and was therefore subject to U.S. army jurisdiction. He advised my grandmother to find somewhere else to stay for the duration of the Americans' stay.

Just as this was happening, my grandfather appeared from one of the side tracks which led onto the driveway behind the two Americans and seeing what was happening went quickly to the house and fetched my grandmother's cousin Wilfred, who had arrived that morning to visit. Owing to his extensive knowledge of food plants, Wilfred had been made a colonel in the Catering Corps at the beginning of the war and as he had only just arrived he was still in uniform. Wilfred was normally a very mild mannered man but he did not like it when anyone (especially my grandfather) misrepresented what he was. As they approached the two Americans at the gate Wilfred realised why my grandfather had called him out and he quickly became quite angry.
The Americans, hearing someone on the path behind them, turned and saw my grandfather, who the officer recognised as the farmer on whose farm they were standing, accompanied by the frightening sight of a very angry looking colonel. Clearly, although the American officer could obviously recognise Wilfred's rank insignia, his lack of knowledge of British unit insignia meant that he did not realise that Wilfred was in the Catering Corps rather than being a regimental colonel. Wilfred tended to get somewhat tongue-tied when angry and only managed to blurt out the words: "Bernard! What is the meaning of...", before he found himself unable to speak. Wilfred's anger was directed towards my grandfather rather than the Americans but my grandfather had predicted his reaction and as planned, it played into his hands. The Americans assumed that the enraged colonel was furious at them for acting aggressively towards the farmer's family and immediately let my grandmother through so that she was able to join my grandfather, who gently propelled the still tongue-tied Wilfred back down the driveway towards the house.
After that my grandparents were treated with scrupulous repect by the Americans, although there were complaints from other local people that the Americans appeared distainful of the local community and refused to buy anything in the local shops, preferring instead to have things like tobacco, shaving cream and razor blades shipped out from America for them.

Paul Geddes

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