Schoolgirls from ‘The West at War’

‘The West at War’ by James Belsey, Helen Reid was published in 1990 off the back of an HTV series that interviewed a number of Bristolians about their experience in the Second World War. Four of the participants, who were schoolgirls at the time, are shown here talking about their interactions with Americans.

June Barrie, aged 12

“The Americans were billeted near us at the Greyhound Stadium at Knowle, and for us it was as if the cinema had come to life. They were so handsome and well groomed and clean, and the privates’ uniforms were better than the ones our officers wore. And they were so generous, they used to leave food parcels on the wall for passers-by. The great thing for the girls was to go to College Green where the Americans would have jive sessions. I had a fat girl-friend who asked me to go with her. I was only 12 at the time and I knew my mother wouldn’t approve, but I sneaked out of the house. We got some lipstick and tried to make ourselves look older, and we went to College Green. We found two suitably short Americans who were very nice to use, treated us absolutely seriously though we were only little girls. They took us to a café in Cheltenham Road and bought us a mixed grill and then put us on the bus home.”

Iris Ford, aged 15

“The date was fixed up by my brother who was about seven then. ‘You be at the top of the road at 2:30 to meet an American called Jim’ he said. I didn’t believe him, but when the time came, I looked out of the window and there he was, very nice, very smart. So I went outside and said Hello. That’s how our relationship started. We used to go to the camp dances to jitterbug, we won a competition once, and the prize was cartons of Lucky Strike. We went to dances all over Bristol, to the Victoria Rooms and the Royal West of England Academy, which was turned into the American Red Cross; they used to serve coffee and doughnuts. There was a lovely atmosphere at the dances, we’d do the jitterbug, catching hold of one another’s hands and gradually being twisted round, swung under their legs and then over their heads, it was quite energetic. But we were young, we could manage it. We also used to do ballroom dancing to the big band and Glenn Miller records.

The Americans were so much better off than our boys – they got about £43 a month, while our men only got a few shillings. But the Yanks were generous, always buying us treats and saying nice things to us, they treated us like duchesses. Yes, some of them were only out for what they could get, but most of them treated us with respect. They weren’t all sex mad. The local boys resented them – they used to call girls who went out with Yanks ‘spambashers’ implying we went out with them to get presents of food. But a lot of romances developed, and I got very fond of Jim, and the subject of marriage came up. My father said ‘no, you’re too young, I’m not letting you go over there.’ Jim was only 19 and was only 15, and after that we had a difference of opinion and I didn’t see him again until he left for D-Day. He came round at half past two in the morning, saying the camp was moving out. We sort of kissed goodbye and he went.”

Madge Read

“They were fun, something new, when life was pretty mundane and most of our fellows were away. We thought of the American boys as Hollywood stars, we knew nothing about the awful race problems or anything like that. We always met them by going to dances, there were regular tea-dances at the Berkeley in Queen’s Road, and there were always Americans there because they had a canteen nearby. The neighbours didn’t always approve because after a dance finished at midnight, the Yanks would bring us home in their trucks and I can remember neighbours banging on the windows and saying ‘get to bed’. My father sometimes gave me a belt for being late home.

I was too young at the time but I don’t think they took advantage more than any fellows would have taken. Maybe they were a bit fresh, but if you are a thousand miles from home and the girls were after you, you’d take what you could get, wouldn’t you?”

Iris Gillard: her sister married a GI

“When they were engaged, we used to get wonderful food parcels from [her sister’s fiancé’s} family and clothes and sweets and magazines. When they got married in Bristol, they sent material to make the wedding dress and two bridesmaids’ dresses, it was out of this world to get so much beautiful fabric when we were making out underwear out of parachute sink. My mother made the dress and laid them out on the bed ready for the next day and that night there was a raid and our windows were broken and the dresses were covered in broken glass.

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