Search results for ""author helen d millgate""

When the first American servicemen arrived in England in March 1942, the indigenous population greeted their presence with mixed feelings. A certain level of resentment of these newcomers was harboured by the English and expressed by many in the in the well-worn phase of the time 'over-paid, over-sexed and over here'. But without the presence of American servicemen in Britain and its huge military and industrial muscle, the war with Germany would probably have been lost. Using a combination of contemporary eyewitness and documentary sources plus latter-day interviews, linked together by engaging narrative, Helen Milligate takes a look at the background to 'the friendly invasion' - where they all came from, who they were, where they were stationed and what they did. She examines how the 'Yanks' got on with the locals, how they fitted in (or didn't), their impact on the social structure of England in the 1940s, the problems they brought with them and their impressions of England. She concludes with the journey home once the war in Europe had ended, describing what the Yanks left behind them and the wives and sweethearts they took 'stateside'.

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The Second World War widows were the ‘forgotten women’, largely ignored by the government and the majority of the population. The men who died in the service of their country were rightly honoured, but the widows and orphans they left behind were soon forgotten. During the war and afterwards in post-war austerity Britain their lives were particularly bleak. The meagre pensions they were given were taxed at the highest rate and gave them barely enough to keep body and soul together, let alone look after their children. Through their diaries, letters and personal interviews we are given an insight into post-war Britain that is a moving testament to the will to survive of a generation of women. The treatment of these war widows was shameful and continued right up to 1989. This is their story.

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