8/13/44 Cliffs DATA
Quaint expressions 6
Utter Frankness of Diane & Pat. Hope, Carus meeting+Hay st. near Wintersloe-
green fields, wonderful evenings-walk out to the Wallops (Over, Middle & Under)
From Lu's Memoirs:
We arrived in Liverpool the end of June 1944 and began gathering our equipment and preparing ourselves, physically and emotionally for what was to come. By mid-July, we were at Lopscombe Corners, where we had further training, including the do-it-yourself camouflage net kits. I'll never forget the smell and feel of chemically treated, multicolored burlap strips being woven into huge nets.
From Cliff Hope's memoir book, 'Growing up in the Wartime Army"
Passes were available to Winchester and Salisbury and evening visits without passes could be made to the villages of Over Wallop, Middle Wallop, Nether Wallop, West Dean, and Winterslow. It was many years later that I learned we were quite close to Stonehenge. At the time, no one mentioned it. We enlisted men ate outside. This would have been tolerable enough had it not been for the bees. The marmalade served with every meal attracted them in droves. They frequently got stuck in it so you had to be careful to avoid chomping on a bee or being stung in the mouth by one.
Several of us were assigned to weaving camouflage nets to cover our vehicles and equipment when we to to France. The nets were spread on the ground, and we were to weave different-colored strips of cloth into them for what seemed like hours on end.
My last few evenings at Lopscombe Corners were pleasant, thanks largely to my acquaintance with Diane, a cheerful, utterly frank, and fun loving girl I met at a dance at nearby East Tytherly. One night she and her friend Pat met Bill Carus and me outside the camp and together we romped in a haystack for some time. Romp was all we did, but it was fun! It was my first and only frolic in a haystack and the last time I saw Diane.
Notes about this entry:
The reference to Over, Middle and Under Wallops tells us where in England Lu was at this time. These three villages, Over Wallop, Middle Wallop and Nether Wallop are near one another in Hampshire England.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nether_Wallop
If you go to the satellite view of the Wallop area you will see that the entire region is mainly green fields with tiny villages, a few towns and some patches of forest. The town of Winterslow is west of the Wallop area. I am guessing the troops were near there. Salisbury is the nearest town of size and Southampton and access to the channel are not far to the South
See: http://www.hampshire-history.com/preparing-southampton-for-d-day/
and here http://www.hampshire-history.com/d-day-from-liphook-to-southwick-and-southampton-ww2/
This placed him not too far from the English Channel. For more about the gathering in Hampshire for the invasion, go to this site: http://www.hampshire-history.com/d-day-gathering/
It seems like Lu was enjoying this area and the quaint expressions he heard there. Details I can see include old churches and thatched roofs even today.
D-Day took place in June, so at this point in history the big day was over two months in the past and the battle to defeat Hitler's army was well underway.
Quaint expressions 6
Utter Frankness of Diane & Pat. Hope, Carus meeting+Hay st. near Wintersloe-
green fields, wonderful evenings-walk out to the Wallops (Over, Middle & Under)
From Lu's Memoirs:
We arrived in Liverpool the end of June 1944 and began gathering our equipment and preparing ourselves, physically and emotionally for what was to come. By mid-July, we were at Lopscombe Corners, where we had further training, including the do-it-yourself camouflage net kits. I'll never forget the smell and feel of chemically treated, multicolored burlap strips being woven into huge nets.
From Cliff Hope's memoir book, 'Growing up in the Wartime Army"
Passes were available to Winchester and Salisbury and evening visits without passes could be made to the villages of Over Wallop, Middle Wallop, Nether Wallop, West Dean, and Winterslow. It was many years later that I learned we were quite close to Stonehenge. At the time, no one mentioned it. We enlisted men ate outside. This would have been tolerable enough had it not been for the bees. The marmalade served with every meal attracted them in droves. They frequently got stuck in it so you had to be careful to avoid chomping on a bee or being stung in the mouth by one.
Several of us were assigned to weaving camouflage nets to cover our vehicles and equipment when we to to France. The nets were spread on the ground, and we were to weave different-colored strips of cloth into them for what seemed like hours on end.
My last few evenings at Lopscombe Corners were pleasant, thanks largely to my acquaintance with Diane, a cheerful, utterly frank, and fun loving girl I met at a dance at nearby East Tytherly. One night she and her friend Pat met Bill Carus and me outside the camp and together we romped in a haystack for some time. Romp was all we did, but it was fun! It was my first and only frolic in a haystack and the last time I saw Diane.
Notes about this entry:
The reference to Over, Middle and Under Wallops tells us where in England Lu was at this time. These three villages, Over Wallop, Middle Wallop and Nether Wallop are near one another in Hampshire England.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nether_Wallop
If you go to the satellite view of the Wallop area you will see that the entire region is mainly green fields with tiny villages, a few towns and some patches of forest. The town of Winterslow is west of the Wallop area. I am guessing the troops were near there. Salisbury is the nearest town of size and Southampton and access to the channel are not far to the South
See: http://www.hampshire-history.com/preparing-southampton-for-d-day/
and here http://www.hampshire-history.com/d-day-from-liphook-to-southwick-and-southampton-ww2/
This placed him not too far from the English Channel. For more about the gathering in Hampshire for the invasion, go to this site: http://www.hampshire-history.com/d-day-gathering/
It seems like Lu was enjoying this area and the quaint expressions he heard there. Details I can see include old churches and thatched roofs even today.
D-Day took place in June, so at this point in history the big day was over two months in the past and the battle to defeat Hitler's army was well underway.
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