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I qualified and got my Wings. The war was really hotting up now and I was told they were desperate for pilots. I was going on leave and they told me to telephone every day to maintain contact because when they needed me to go, they would need me as quickly as I could be moved. So I went on indefinite leave, reporting in each day.

I went down to the bus station and took a bus to Thousand Islands, a point where Canada meets the USA. I walked across the bridge there and reached an American town called Syracuse. I found a dance there that night. It was like something out of the movies, an English sailor with Wings arriving there. I danced with an American girl and she just wouldn’t let me go. She took me home with her to show me to her parents who couldn’t believe it. They saw me as a kind of trophy and showed me to all the neighbours who wanted me to stay with them as well.

Then I thought I’d take a train to somewhere else in the USA. I went down to the station and saw all the destinations, like Chicago, Los Angeles, New York. I couldn’t believe it. All I’d seen of places like these was in the movies. Now this was the real thing, I was actually here. I decided to take the first train that was leaving — its destination was New York. I arrived there at night. I’d met two American soldiers on the train and they got a taxi and showed me round all the main sights. I stayed at the parents’ house of one of them, arriving around 5 am. He threw some gravel up at his sister’s bedroom window to wake her. She let us in and I was installed in their spare room. The parents were astonished the following morning to find this English sailor staying in their house, and immediately called the neighbours in, who all offered me accommodation with them. But the parents didn’t want me to go and stay with anyone else. They even gave me the use of their car and the services of their daughter to show me around while I was staying with them.

All the shows and band concerts were free of charge if you were wearing uniform. So I had the time of my life, especially as I’d played in a band at home, on clarinet and tenor sax. One night, I went to the Astor Roof where the Duke Ellington Band was playing. Duke noticed there was an English sailor in the audience and asked ‘Do you play?’ That was the highlight! He invited me to play with his band, and I did! Afterwards, every member of the Ellington Band signed a copy of the menu for me. That was my biggest treasure for many years after, but in the end someone pinched it from me.

This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Becky Barugh and Graham Brown of the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Shropshire CSV Action Desk on behalf of Russell Billson and has been added to the site with his permission. Mr Billson fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

See more of Russell's stories and photographs:

• 1) I was so fascinated that I enrolled on the spot!
• 3) Flying Walruses
• 4) A Jack-of-all-trades
• 5) A lucky escape
• 6) Extra careful
• 7) Badly needed at home
• 8) Shocking statistics
• Aircraft qualified to fly as first pilot
• Operational Airfields and Bases
• World War Two Key Dates

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