US troops’ warm Valleys welcome

Jan 18 2008 by Steffan Rhys, Western Mail

IT WAS just weeks before they would descend on the beaches of Normandy and suffer some of the heaviest losses of World War II.

The warm welcome given to American troops when they were billeted in the Welsh Valleys in 1944 could not be a bigger contrast from the scenes of carnage that accompanied the D-Day landings.

But despite the mutual fondness between the American soldiers and the Welsh communities where they were stationed, strict wartime security meant almost nothing was recorded about their movements.

After decades without recognition, however, the links are to be publicised at last in a new book shedding light on the era.

A Moment in History: The Story of the American Army in the Rhondda in 1944 details how the Valleys’ Italian cafes became favourite hangouts for the visiting soldiers, how several of them married Rhondda women, and how their departure for the D-Day invasions led the Western Mail to write an open letter to America mourning their loss.

On May 14, 1944, two US Port Battalions numbering 2,000 men drove flag-waving convoys up the Valleys while hordes of soldiers poured off the trains at stations between Tonypandy and Treherbert.

They had been moved from the docks at Cardiff and Barry to begin the training that would eventually see them operating the amphibious vehicles that landed on France’s northern shore.

Dining halls, cookhouses and foodstores sprang up all over Rhondda stocked with foods like canned and fresh fruit, which had long disappeared from the valley.

And the flamboyant soldiers forged lasting bonds with their hosts. Private First Class Arthur Bonner, whose children later became godchildren of Colin Exell, from Treorchy, wrote in March 1945, “The people were so kind and willing. They gave us their keys and let us do as they would have their own sons do.”

Pfc Benjamin Gurdison wrote, “Most of the men were considered part of the family by the people where they stayed. Hardly a night would pass without having a chat over a cup of tea.

“By far, the leaving of Treherbert hurt us most. The people were lined in the streets on the morning we left, some even tearful. Truthfully we were as unhappy as they were, as this had been the closest thing to home that we had seen in the Army.”

Rhondda’s dance halls and Italian cafes became a natural meeting point for US soldiers, and led to several marriages.

After their departure, the Western Mail wrote, “America, your boys are loved in Wales. There are many lonely homes in South Wales. The Welsh hosts were as sorry to see them go as if they were their own sons. They are waiting eagerly to hear from them to know how they are faring in battle. They hope some day they will be able to welcome them ‘home’ again.”

The book is the work of retired schoolteacher Bryan Morse, who as an eight-year-old in Tonypandy in 1944 formed a fascination with the US troops.

Two American soldiers were billeted next door. “I was fascinated with them and every evening I would sit on the stone steps and talk to them and watch them clean their equipment,” Mr Morse said. “Suddenly, to my great disappointment, they were gone. But they had left some presents ‘for the kid next door’. There was a letter to me, an Old Moore cigar box full of candy and rum, a pair of gaiters, a side cap, a helmet and a US Army Bible. I have them to this day.

“In 1994, great preparations were in hand to celebrate the successful D-Day lan- dings. Commemorative editions were promised in the local press and I hoped to learn something about the American presence. But there was no mention of them at all. There had been such strict wartime security that nothing about them had been recorded.”

A Moment In History is published by Y Lolfa, priced £9.95