In the spring of 1944, we, and of course every one living in the area had become aware of an influx of troops: Polish, Free French, Norwegian, English, Scottish, Welsh and others.  We felt their presence in a different way to the civilians.  They all used radio communication and as they were so near, we got their signals at maximum strength. Most of them were awful senders and we used to say that they used their feet not their fingers.  It made reading our messages much more difficult.  Still we loved our boys!

It was quite a job keeping them all happy and every little village managed a dance at least once or twice a week, even if the band consisted of a pianist and one other instrumentalist. Sometimes the troops themselves made up the band.  It was great for the females in the district and that of course included the ATS!

Then one day, we all received a great cultural shock; the arrival of the 105th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the United States 82nd All American Airborne Division!  Wow!  Life was never the same again.  We'd never seen anyone like them before - the oddest bunch of men, all shapes and sizes.  Some spoke a strange sort of English which included unusual words, others chewed gum all the time - not looking or sounding at all like the Americans we'd seen in films. 

Their arrival did not go down too well with the other troops stationed in the area, as all the available girls wanted a Yank as a boy friend.  It was very nice going out with one of our boys - he'd pay for the pictures and fish and chips.  But with the Yanks, you got Hershey Bars, Chewing gum, Passing Cloud, Lucky Strike and Camel cigarettes.  Possibly a tin of meat or fruit from the PX - there was just no competition. 

The saying that the Yanks were "Overpaid, Oversexed and Over Here" seemed very apt, and there were often fights at the local dances.  This may be apocryphal, but some of the girls in the watch that relieved us at 1.am one night, said they were there and saw it.  There was a dance in the church hall at one of the small villages.  It was quiet until about 8.30 when a small number of Americans came in, possibly already slightly under the influence.  Remarking how quiet it was, one of them asked the band to liven things up - ' How about playing the Dunkirk Retreat?' he said.  He obviously hadn't recognised the divisional sign on the tunics of the British lads - they were all from the Guards Armoured Brigade - most of whom had been at Dunkirk and were a very tough lot indeed.  Within minutes, all the windows and most of the furniture had been smashed and the Redcaps, White helmeted US Military Police and the local Bobby were on the scene.  There were several broken bones and cuts - quite a night out for the boys.

But the Americans were essentially a very friendly lot and the locals took to them immediately - and it wasn't just because they had more money.  When they were not training, they took part in many local events and were particularly generous to the children, either giving parties for them, or providing food for events run by local associations.  They were always handing out gum and chocolate to local children when they were in Loughborough. Over the years quite a lot of them have been back to Loughborough and  are always  warmly welcomed

Of course, most of the ATS found American boy friends and chewing gum became the 'in' thing.  If the Paras went away on training courses, we all knew when they were back, by the relieving watch - all smiles and chewing like crazy; also exhibiting Camel cigarettes!

For the first time we took a serious interest in group Orders, which were posted on the notice board in the Mess Hut.  Not from a work point of view, but just to see who had been discharged under "Paragraph 11", the regulation concerning ATS who were pregnant!  Many of the girls became 'GI brides’ and from news received over the years, most of them were very happy; but some ended up in very different circumstances than they had imagined.  We'd all been brought up on Hollywood films, where everyone seemed to have a better life style and even poor people had marvellous kitchens!  But soldiers came from all States - not just California or New York, and not all of them had money or a good job back home.  Some girls found they were living in poor conditions in small towns, or even in the hills of the more rural States and gave up and came home to England.

The training at Trowbridge had now been stopped because of bombs that had been dropped on the barracks, and the ATS were now being trained at Douglas in the Isle of Man.  By this time, Beaumanor had the full compliment of operators - No 1 Wing at Quorn, and No 2 at Garats Hay, in Woodhouse Eaves so it was decided to open a new Intercept Station elsewhere.  The place chosen was Queen Ethelburga's School for Girls in Harrogate - the occupants having moved elsewhere.  Unlike Beaumanor, where civilian staff had set up the system before the ATS arrived, Harrogate would be completely run by the ATS from the beginning, with, for the first time, ATS Operational Officers.  What they needed now, were experienced Sergeants and Corporals to organise each Watch - and the only place where they could be found was Beaumanor. 

This obviously had an effect on our two Groups; Corporals were made up to Sergeants and so on down the line.  This meant quite a shake-up, not only for promotion, but also in the movement of some operators between Quorn and Garats Hay.

In the spring we noticed that gradually the troops were moving out and in May came the dreadful day.  The oncoming watch had long faces, no smiles or gum!  They had gone, overnight - what were we going to do without our Yankees!  We would soon found out!