大象传媒

Joy worked in Greg Street Mill in North Reddish and was training to be a nurse. She met her boyfriend when she was 16 and they courted for 12 months before he enlisted abroad.

When the Americans arrived, Joy鈥檚 mother would take them in, but Joy stayed faithful to her Len.

鈥淭hey [American soldiers] loved fish and chips, which my mother used to always get from the corner shop鈥� four of the lads that used to stay, were killed in Omaha but my boyfriend was fighting in Italy.鈥�

On VE Day; Joy and her family were on holiday in Blackpool. They knew the war was ending soon but when the news came late the evening before, Joy joined others from across Blackpool to march up the pier, singing war songs.

Joy recalls the lady she was marching next to was singing and crying. 鈥淲hy are you crying鈥� she asked, 鈥淥ur lads will be home soon? And she said; 鈥楴o mine won鈥檛 cos he鈥檚 fighting in Burma.鈥欌��

She describes the scene in Blackpool that night as the town lit up for first time since the blackout.

鈥淎ll the lights came on from the hotels and people cheering. That really shouldn鈥檛 have been done until the police gave permission but nobody in Blackpool cared, the War was over.鈥�

She was reunited with her Lenny twelve months after VE day and they married the year after.

Image: Jean Pallister (pictured in the top left) and her husband, Len, with his war medals.

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