Nice guy GI who gave me a leg-up

YEArS ago, if you asked people what they thought about U.S. servicemen ‘over here’ during World War II, they mostly said that they found them cocky and brash. Well, my view of them was entirely different. In 1945, I was a crew member on a cargo ship loading tanks and jeeps in Hull. After the job was done, the captain said that as we wouldn’t be sailing until later in the week, we could go home for a couple of days. I had the ’flu and felt terrible, but I was determined to visit my family. I caught the train and it was so crowded there was standing room only in the corridors. I was standing next to an American soldier and asked him how long it would take to get to London. He said: ‘Five hours — and, my God, don’t you look ill!’ He said I should sit on his kit bag and try to get some rest. When I woke up, I found I had fallen asleep using his leg as a cushion. He hadn’t moved in case he woke me. ‘Are you hungry, kid?’ he asked, and he gave me a candy bar. When we reached London, he picked up his kit bag and said: ‘Hope you get better, kid,’ and was gone. I don’t suppose he gave it another thought, but 70-odd years later, that’s how I remember American servicemen over here. Brian V. Reynolds,

Herne Bay, Kent.

Follow-up

FUrTHEr to the stories about lost watches (Peterborough), my husband mislaid his some time ago. Then, as I was emptying the washing machine, something bright caught my eye in the seal around the drum — the missing watch, still showing the correct time!

Audrey Young, Bedford.