A Yank on the island

Recent issues of OBM have shown photos and articles of military bikes. I thought readers may like this evocative photo, taken at Shanklin Old Village, on the Isle of Wight, sometime during the Second World War.

One wonders what the locals – like the two elderly gents in the photo – made of the presence of military vehicles on their narrow streets. One also wonders what the US serviceman, posing astride his Harley-Davidson WLA, made of the olde worlde thatched cottages and twisty narrow streets.

The photo was probably taken in early 1944 during the run up to D-Day, when the whole of the south of England was one enormous collecting area for the greatest military invasion in history.

Were there American camps on the island or was the rider not complying with the ‘Official use only’ instruction stencilled on much of the American equipment?

I like to think he just took off on a 48-hour pass to explore the island, which would have appeared so different from his home. There were several military bases, both British and American, in the New Forest area just across the Solent. Maybe he was able to cross over on a ferry that had already seen action rescuing our troops from Dunkirk.

Note that the rider has no helmet and appears to be wearing a USAAF flying jacket. Also note the invasion stars and white painted stripes on the leg shields and front mudguard. The Harley would have been one of many thousands made for the war effort and were widely distributed in Europe, even to Russia, under the Lend-Lease scheme. I hope this is of some interest to military enthusiasts.

Doug Barton, Wokingham, Surrey.