Joe21
03-28-2009, 06:51 PM
During WW2, members of my outfit, and what seemed like several thousand other young men, boarded our cruise ship in New York en route to a tour of Europe, courtesy of Uncle Sam. We zig-zagged across the Atlantic in company with several Navy escort vessels. Our trip was, thank goodness, uneventful. As we were cruising down the Irish Sea to our final destination of Bootle, to our starboard was a submarine coming to the surface. As it surfaced, I did not see a big sign that said, "Not to worry, we're on your side", so, to put it mildly, I was a bit aprehensive --- actually I was scared. Our ship's captain came to our rescue and announced that the submarine was friendly.Wow !!! That was a relief.
Well, we made it safely to Bootle, which is near Liverpool. We collected our gear and debarked. A train was waiting nearby to take us to our final destination in England. As yet, we didn't know where we were going but sometime later we were informed we were going to Barton Stacey. Now if you have never heard of Barton Stacey, don't feel as if you were left out of the loop. None of us knew where it was but we were soon to learn it was a very small village west of London and was a staging area for US troops destined for the continent.We didn't know how long we would be stationed at Barton Stacey but we knew for certain it was not a permanent assignment.
Being on land again was a welcome relief and having relatively wide open spaces in which to roam relieved us of that pent up feeling one gets on a troop ship. Once again having a mess hall only for our company was also a big relief. The only problem were the menus, or lack thereof. The British are great believers in lamb stew, something one rarely finds on the dining table of those living in the southern United States. We Amerucans love our aged beef but aged lamb is mutton and aged lamb does not improve with age. Our first week at Barton Stacey must have coincided with National Mutton Week. We had mutton stew and bread for lunch and bread and mutton stew for the evening meal. The next day, we had the rotated menu, bread and mutton stew for lunch and mutton stew and bread for the evening meal. We had so much mutton stew that first week, we all responded with a loud B-a-a-a-a-a at roll call.
One evening after having our mutton stew and bread, five of us buddies decided to visit one of the other mess halls to see how their food compared to ours. Their evening meal was over but the cooks were still in the mess hall. One of my buddies had brought along a clip board. We walked into the mess hall and told the cooks we were from the IG office and were there to inspect the food and facilities. They must have believed our story because we received their full cooperation. We checked the floors, dishes and pots and pans for cleanliness, all in the most official manner we could muster. Last but not least, was the food. In the refrigerator we found lots of goodies which we sampled with delight. We even found some dessert, something which we did not get on a regular basis in our mess hall. After satisfying our appetites, we told the cooks we were giving them high marks in our report. We returned to our company quarters hoping our paths and those of the cooks would never cross.
P.S. The guy that had the clip board became President of the NBC station in New York City later in life.
Well, we made it safely to Bootle, which is near Liverpool. We collected our gear and debarked. A train was waiting nearby to take us to our final destination in England. As yet, we didn't know where we were going but sometime later we were informed we were going to Barton Stacey. Now if you have never heard of Barton Stacey, don't feel as if you were left out of the loop. None of us knew where it was but we were soon to learn it was a very small village west of London and was a staging area for US troops destined for the continent.We didn't know how long we would be stationed at Barton Stacey but we knew for certain it was not a permanent assignment.
Being on land again was a welcome relief and having relatively wide open spaces in which to roam relieved us of that pent up feeling one gets on a troop ship. Once again having a mess hall only for our company was also a big relief. The only problem were the menus, or lack thereof. The British are great believers in lamb stew, something one rarely finds on the dining table of those living in the southern United States. We Amerucans love our aged beef but aged lamb is mutton and aged lamb does not improve with age. Our first week at Barton Stacey must have coincided with National Mutton Week. We had mutton stew and bread for lunch and bread and mutton stew for the evening meal. The next day, we had the rotated menu, bread and mutton stew for lunch and mutton stew and bread for the evening meal. We had so much mutton stew that first week, we all responded with a loud B-a-a-a-a-a at roll call.
One evening after having our mutton stew and bread, five of us buddies decided to visit one of the other mess halls to see how their food compared to ours. Their evening meal was over but the cooks were still in the mess hall. One of my buddies had brought along a clip board. We walked into the mess hall and told the cooks we were from the IG office and were there to inspect the food and facilities. They must have believed our story because we received their full cooperation. We checked the floors, dishes and pots and pans for cleanliness, all in the most official manner we could muster. Last but not least, was the food. In the refrigerator we found lots of goodies which we sampled with delight. We even found some dessert, something which we did not get on a regular basis in our mess hall. After satisfying our appetites, we told the cooks we were giving them high marks in our report. We returned to our company quarters hoping our paths and those of the cooks would never cross.
P.S. The guy that had the clip board became President of the NBC station in New York City later in life.