Yes I was a schoolgirl when the 'yanks' came to Thurleigh Aerodrome with their Flying Fortress Bombers. They flew every night over us.



The BBC billeted people this end of Bedford within walking distance of the Corn Exchange Theatre where Glenn Miller, amongst others, gave concerts. Also the BBC symphony Orchestra. The BBC then introduced us to two or three Americans. I was there when they came in with my Mother and two sisters. My Father went to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) with the Fleet Air Arm planes so we were quite interested in these new foreign airmen.



The Americans were keen on our Pubs. Although I was still at school when they called (not often) in the evenings one of them took me down a passage to the Embankment Hotel to have a drink. I always had lemonade without alcohol. The Yank called (? Hawley) behaved well, only kissing me in the passage as we walked back. My Mother was very careful to limit the time given to have an outing.



There were many, many Yanks in Bedford. Some were billeted in Milton Ernest village 5 miles away. Glenn Miller stayed at Milton Ernest Hall and flew off on the night he died from the airfield there on 15 January 1944.



The opposite neighbours in this road, 2 glamorous women, always got taken notice of. They used a lot of make up and did their hair blond. But they were very decent women and their Mother and Father very protective of their lovely daughters. Joan, the eldest daughter, went to dances where she met Yanks. One (an officer) saw a lot of Joan and took her out a lot. She had to work to help the war effort and went to a local company who made aeroplane wings. Joan, who made all her own clothes, was employed stitching the material used on the planes wings. Her hands became very sore as the material was stiff to sew. Eventually Joan and her officer man got married, going back to the USA after the end of the war in Europe. We thought it was a fairytale romance BUT Joan's husband was a civilian policeman and very different without the glam life he liked to show Joan and her family. Joan had two children in USA but she was badly treated by her Yank husband. He became unkind, hard and gave Joan an awful life. Joan's mother (Mrs Robbins) died in this road so the fmaily broke up- her father died too and Joyce, her sister married an older man who gave her a good life. The American who was keen on me eventually married a Bedford girl and they also went away to the USA. I didn't envy her.