American Visitors - 1942
American visitors to Ireland usually talk about the scenery and the warmth of the people they meet. In 1942 they did exactly the same, but also prepared for the war in Europe. Most of them were young men, on their first trip away from home, and although circumstances were different, they were very similar to today’s young American travellers in their eagerness to experience the beauty and hospitality of the island of Ireland.
Irelandseye continues its look back at the ‘Yank invasion’ of the early 1940s, using extracts from Home Away From Home by Mary Pat Kelly, published by Appletree Press.
The American troops and technicians stationed in Northern Ireland at the start of 1942 were welcome strangers. Although not ‘tourists’ as we would recognise them today, their experience of and reaction to the Irish landscape and its hospitable inhabitants still sounds like holiday reminiscence: but with the shadow of the war always present.
12 May 1942 - Northern Ireland
Have been golfing quite a bit lately. There's a pretty course just a few minutes from "home". My scores are still astronomical, but we have a lot of fun. There's a creek winding back and forth across it, and I invariably land in it several times each round, at the cost of a stroke each time. Have also bought a bicycle - something very handy over here. You don't feel silly riding one because everybody rides one: mothers going to market, cops on their beat, army officers going to work.
They're different in some ways from ours. The brakes operate on the rim from a lever on the handlebar, and mine has three speeds on it. I can beat the trolleys, scooting around the city. This afternoon I rode throughout the heart of the city amidst trams, buses, cars, wagons and pedestrians as nonchalant as you please. It wasn't very hard to adapt to keeping to the left, and signalling for a right turn.
Now that summer has arrived, I'm beginning to see Belfast is a very pretty city in places. The homes here are generally of brick because they haven't the forests we have, and the people in the better districts have their front lawns full of flowers and rock gardens instead of just grass. Petey would love it here. Their homes are also surrounded by a shoulder high hedge, giving them a little privacy.
Mother's Day isn't observed over here, but it probably will be before the Yanks leave. I took a bouquet to the lady who has been so good to me and it pleased her immensely. She's been very hospitable, the rest of the family too, and I can't stop in enough to suit them. The grandmother is a salty Scotswoman with a quaint sense of humor and a love for the old-fashioned virtues. I'm trying to convince her that all Americans aren't criminals and divorcees as the movies show us.
The streets are thronged with uniforms. Practically everyone has a uniform of some kind, even the women. The girls are either ATS (Army), WAAFs (Air Force), WRENS (Navy), AFS (Fire), VAD (I dunno) [voluntary aid detachment], and a bunch of others less well known.
Ireland continues to be as pleasant as ever; since spring came the natives say we've had an exceptionally good spring - the remark I made in the first letter about the sun coming out three times, apparently not holding true this year. I hope it continues.
From the letters of Bob Reed
Bob Reed found the scenery more beautiful than even the upstate New York vistas he loved. As he writes to his parents, he can not help comparing and contrasting just as the guide knew he would; but Reed concludes he is better off in Northern Ireland than at home!
12 April 1942 - Northern Ireland
Ireland probably seems a long way off to you, and a little foreign. But I've learned that people and customs here are much the same. Of course, no country in the world has the material comforts America has. Osewego could be set down hereabouts, and not seem too out of place as far as scenery goes, except that Ireland is prettier. It didn't get the name of "Emerald Isle" for nothing. They say the weather is damper, but we have had some days that the Finger Lakes would be hard put to beat. The people, of course, are very friendly to the Yanks. No matter how much they like their homes here, it's their dream to visit America some day. And it's surprising the number of people who have been to the States, or who have relatives there. There are dandy theaters here, and the cinemas aren't more than a few months behind their showing in the States. In fact, I've caught up on a few good ones I missed. The blackout is a novel experience. You bump into something in the dark, apologise to it, and then find out it's only a street lamp. But I'm quite proud of myself in that I have managed so far to do without a flashlight.
We are very comfortably situated in a pretty spot; much pleasanter than those huge soldier-cities on the southern sands in America, where the people are as arid as the desert they live in. My work consists mostly of guard duty - no medical work as yet. I'll have forgotten what little I know about operating-room technique
From the letters of Bob Reed
Before Bob Reed's war was over, he would have occasion to use all the medical techniques he knew. But that was in the future. During the first spring he and the other Americans were experiencing a lull before the storm.
Read more historical recollections from American servicemen stationed in the North during the early years of US involvement of World War Two [Home Away From Home by Mary Pat Kelly, published by Appletree Press] or visit Irelandseye.com for more extracts.
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