Inside this chapel, and to my amazement, I saw what looked like a tapestry. As
I studied it closer, I realised that it was the Bayeux Tapestry. I walked around
looking at it-I found the part that depicted the fight that took place. After
a while I found the materiel with Harold there, with the arrow in his forehead.
It made me think, where was I going?
I came out, and in a strange way, I felt much better in myself.
The next move, I don’t know where we went, we just jumped into a truck,
the trucks moved off to the next landing strip. Here, the routine continued,
looking after myself, looking after the engines and all the others doing their
jobs. This happened each time we moved forward. In due course and time, we
came to a place called Melsbroek, which was just outside of Brussels.
In Brussels, my friend, and I, had some spare time where we could catch the
tram and travel down into Brussels. On our first visit, we were amazed to see
all
the different types of ice cream in the shops, which we duly indulged ourselves
by having some! The Belgians were very pleased to receive our English liberation
money. We then went into the ‘Roxy
Cinema’, and lo and behold,
there was Errol Flynn in the ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ doing
his stuff. My pal and I, light up a cigarette in the cinema. The next thing we
knew, people were coming at us from all angles, telling us to put them out. The
reason being, you were not allowed to smoke in the cinema. So we abandoned the ‘Charge
Of The Light Brigade’ and came out, and went for a walk round.
We returned back to the camp on a tram. At the back of the tram there was a chap
who blew a hunting horn to signal that the tram was about to move off. We made
this trip on several occasions.
It was here that I began to realise how far we had moved forward. To my amazement,
when looking around, I noticed many large houses, which were on the side of the
road. Previously, I understand, they were hangers that had been used for maintenance
or whatever by the Germans. Whilst there, a film unit passed, who they were or
where they went, I do not know.
The next time we went on a short break into Brussels, I found myself in a situation,
which I hope I never have to experience again.
As we walked along, a person, who was one of the liberation forces civilians,
he mistook my friend and I, as Germans. He pushed an automatic machine gun under
my chin and screeched words, which I did not understand. Fortunately for us,
there was a person on the opposite side of the road who instantly recognised
us for who we were. Fortunately he spoke English and he came across and spoke
to the chap with the gun, and told him that we were English airmen. He then told
him to look at our caps; we had two brass buttons, which indicated that we were
British, and the Germans only had one. With this, the irate chap, backed off,
and left us with this stranger. To this day, I do not know the strangers name.
What followed, is very interesting. He took us to his home, a very
large house,
and we went in. The first thing he did was to offer us a drink, which we were
grateful for. This was the first time we felt relaxed for a long time. To our
surprise, he asked both of us could we sing ‘Lilly Of Laguna’, this
being an old fashioned tune. Both of us said “yes”, and with that,
he asked us to go along with him to another house.
This may all sound very strange, but this is what happened. We went into this
other house, went inside and there he spoke to the owner and the request he
made to us was can you sing ‘Lilly of Laguna’-which once again we replied “yes”.
We both started singing it, here’s a little bit of it, ‘She’s
my lady love, she is my love, my turtle dove, she no girl for sitting down
to dream, she is the only girl Laguna knows.