Reflections of My Life by JL Byars – page 12

The bunk beds were three deep and very uncomfortable.  There were several seasick men because the ocean was rough, especially the second and third days out.  The thing that I will always remember was the way the sea kept changing colors. Out in the ocean away from any land, it felt like that as you looked out you were in a low spot in the ocean.  When I felt like I was getting sick I would lay down and try to stay still.

About this time we were given books on “Behavior in Great Britain”.  Now we knew where we were going!  We docked at Liverpool on September 15, 1943.  We were loaded in Britain’s small “Toonerville Trolley” trams and transported across country to our new home, which was a small English village named Codford.

The English people were very nice to us and served us hot tea, cookies and sandwiches.  I never got used to drinking hot tea.  Their coffee did not taste like our coffee.  I guess we were not used to their type of cooking, or their type of beer.

Our new home was in a Nissen hut or barracks.  Our mattresses were made of straw, which was very uncomfortable.  All of the roads were very narrow and our equipment was so large there was damage to lots of their buildings.  All cars and trucks were driven from the right-hand side just opposite from ours.  It rained almost every day, but you got used to it, even though you did not like it.  We were there about nine months and I never did understand their money.  So we would lay our money on the counter and take back what they left.  Cigars and cigarettes were rationed and if you had cigarettes for sale you could get as much as forty dollars a carton.  It was there that I saw my first lady smoke cigars.  It was quite different from what we were used to in the United States.

Beer was plentiful but their other drinks were hard to find and expensive.  If you could drink their beer, you could drink almost anything!